Chapmanville's Robert Cook (7) looks for running room around the outside during fourth quarter action of the Tigers 42-20 loss to Fairmont Senior in the Class AA playoffs (Holly Eldridge/Holly Eldridge Photography).
Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports
FAIRMONT Germaine Lewis scored three touchdowns and Fairmont Senior returned two second half interceptions for touchdowns as the seventh ranked Polar Bears defeated 10th ranked Chapmanville 42-20 in the opening round of the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission Class AA playoffs last Friday at East-West Stadium.
Lewis ran for 96 yards and scored on runs of 11,20 and 24 in the first half, while Dylan Ours rushed for 99 yards and hauled in a 35-yard touchdown reception for the Polar Bears.
Fairmont Senior (8-3) scored 12 points in a span of 1:52 in the first quarter to jump out to a 12-0 lead.
Landen Tasker returned a squib kick to the Tigers 39 and Ours gained three yards on a 4th-and-1 to set up Lewis’ first touchdown, an 11-yard run, to put the Polar Bears up 6-0 with 9:54 to play in the opening quarter.
Chapmanville was unable to convert on a fake punt from its own 20 and turned the ball over on downs to the Polar Bears on its first offensive possession.
Fairmont Senior wasted no time in extending its lead to 12-0 as Lewis ran in from 20 yards for his second touchdown with 8:02 remaining.
Chapmanville got on the board with 0:10 remaining in the first quarter as quarterback Brody Dalton ran in from 3-yards out. Jonathan Ferrell’s extra-point cut the deficit to 12-7.
Fairmont added to its lead with a pair of second quarter touchdowns. The first one, a 35-yard touchdown pass from Brody Whitehair to Ours with 6:24 to play before halftime, increased the Polar Bears lead to 20-7 following Lewis’ two-point conversion.
Lewis scored his third touchdown of the first half, a 24-yard run with 5:15 remaining. Whitehair tacked on the two-point conversion to put Fairmont Senior ahead 28-7.
Chapmanville drove into Fairmont territory on its opening drive of the third quarter, however, a Cannon Dinger interception put an end to the Tigers drive.
Chapmanville managed to close the gap to 28-13 with 0:06 to play in the third quarter when Dalton found Adam Mullins for a 35-yard touchdown, but Fairmont Senior put the game on ice with a pair of interception returns for the Polar Bears final points of the evening.
Trey Longwell returned a Dalton interception 42-yards to increase the lead to 34-13 with 9:37 to play in the fourth quarter.
Roughly 2:00 later, Damani Johnson returned an interception 51-yards for a touchdown and Whitehair completed a pass to Dinger on the conversion to give the Polar Bears a 42-13 lead with 7:23 to play.
Jeremy Collins added an 11-yard run from Chapmanville to close the gap to 42-20 after Ferrell’s extra point with 2:37 to play in the fourth.
Dalton rushed for 75 yards and one touchdown on 21 carries and completed 13 of 20 passes for 121 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.
Kohl Farmer, who rushed for over 1,200 yards in the regular season, was held to 11 yards on nine carries. Robert Cook rushed for 48 yards on seven carries while Jacob Topping hauled in five receptions for 50 yards and Mullins caught four passes for 40 yards and one touchdown.
Chapmanville, making its first playoff appearance in seven years, finished the season with a record of 7-4.
Fairmont Senior advances to the Class AA quarterfinals where they will face second seeded Independence in a rematch of last season’s Class AA championship game won by the Polar Bears, 21-12.
Fairmont Senior 42, Chapmanville 20
CHS 7 0 6 7- 20
FAIR 12 16 0 14- 42
First Quarter
F- Lewis 11 run (run failed), 9:54
F- Lewis 20 run (pass failed), 8:02
C- Dalton 3 run (Ferrell kick), 0:10
Second Quarter
F- Ours 35 pass from Whitehair (Lewis run), 6;24
F- Lewis 24 run (Whitehair run), 5:15
Third Quarter
C- Mullins 35 pass from Dalton (kick failed), 0:06
Fourth Quarter
F- Longwell 42 interception (run failed), 9:37
F- Johnson 51 interception (Dinger pass from Whitehair), 7:23
C- Collins 11 run (Ferrell kick), 2:37