Fairview stymied a second-half Stroud comeback and beat the Tigers, 27-21, Friday night, eliminating them from the playoffs.
The loss snapped a 10game Stroud winning streak and finished the Tigers’ season at 10-3.
“We had our chance,” said Stroud head coach Josh Presley. “Nobody gave us a chance, but we gave Fairview all they wanted.”
The Yellowjackets got out to a 24-6 lead before Stroud turned the game around in the fourth quarter.
Freshman Jessen Leathers scored on a 69yard pass early in the fourth to make it 24-13 and Jacob Beck, another freshman, ran two yards for a two-yard score with 7:58 left, making it 2421.
Fairview got a field goal to stretch the lead to 27-21, but Stroud had the ball and a chance to tie or win, but the Yellowjackets intercepted a pass to stop the drive.
Fairview is unbeaten on the season and advances to play Colcord, which is also undefeated and was a 45-15 victor over Stroud in Week 2.
“We lost three games, and two were against teams thaat are playing this week in the state semifinals,” Presley said. “And the other is Chandler, which was a 2A quarterfinalist.”
Stroud will graduate five seniors - Stetson Bynyard, Kyle Guest, Devin Denton, Gage Wilson and John Gordon.
The experienced the highs and lows of Stroud football, going 12-1 as freshmen, 1-8 as sophomores and 6-6 as juniors before finishing off their careerswith a 10-3 mark and appearance in the state quarterfinals.
“They showed the younger guys how it’s supposed to be done on the field and off,” Presley said. “They helped put the program back where it’s supposed to be.
“They all had careers.” The Tigers started off the season with backto- back losses, but they never questioned themselves or lose faith Presley said.
“There was never any doubt we were a good football team,” he said. ”That was the attitude the whole time.
“Everyone realized we were playing two good football teams to start the season.”
A 10-game winning streak followed, with most of them lop-sided, and then a district championship.
“I’m super proud of the kids and everything they have done,” Presley said. “I was extremely happy with our season.
“Winning those two home playoff gams was special. Any time you can play in front of your home crowd and win like that, it’s special.”