Fairmont Senior rolls past Dots, punches ticket to state championship game

Nov. 27—FAIRMONT — Only 24 hours after their Thanksgiving feasts, the Fairmont Senior Polar Bears had a different kind of feast Friday against the Poca Dots.

The Bears jumped out to a two-score lead by the end of one quarter and eventually punched their ticket to the state championship with a 41-7 victory.

Fairmont Senior's defense put them in the driver's seat from the very first drive of the game. Polar Bears' senior Kayson Nealy snatched an interception on a ball down the sideline two minutes into the contest to give them the ball at Poca's 22 yard-line. Three plays later, Germaine Lewis found the end zone from three yards out to open up the offense.

Lewis finished with 155 rushing yards, 107 in the first half alone. The junior runner carved out a 53-yard rush on Fairmont Senior's second drive, his longest run of the day, but the Polar Bears coughed it up on the goal line, and Poca recovered.

The Dots, however, were not able to get out of the box all game. They did not cross midfield until a minute into the second quarter, and completed just two passes all the first half. One was for a single yard, while another was a 50-yard reception after the pass was tipped up in the air by a Polar Bear defensive back.

"Defense did a great job to get us in a good place to start, and the offense was able to get a big push up front," Fairmont Senior head coach Nick Bartic said after the game. "Even though we had a turnover on the goal line to try to go up two scores, we handled that, got the ball back, and took advantage of the field position we gained, and were able to score again. Any time you get a good start in games like these, that's important."

The Polar Bears feasted on short fields that led to multiple scoring drives. As the first quarter drew to a close, Jace Dalton made a big 12-yard fourth-down reception over the middle to move the sticks, and Lewis scored from 11 yards away.

Poca, meanwhile, continued to run into a brick wall on offense. Fairmont Senior's Jayden Cheriza broke up two passes on the Dots' next drive, including a fourth-down deep ball that gave the Bears another short field. Every level of the Bears' defense had their moments, as Fairmont Senior registered an interception, three sacks, and four tackles for loss.

"We just made sure to read their heads and their steps," Fairmont Senior's Eric Smith said. "If they took a step back we knew they were going to pass the ball, so we make our moves and rush the QB where he'd have no time, he'd either get sacked or have to throw the ball to the ground."

The Bears showed off their aerial attack, with Kayson Nealy snagging two passes including a 35-yard contested touchdown grab with 6:41 to play in the second quarter that put Fairmont Senior ahead 21-0.

Nealy finished with three catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns on a day where four different Polar Bears ended up in the end zone — Lewis, Nealy, quarterback Dom Stingo, and running back Landen Tasker.

"It builds everybody's confidence around the whole team," Fairmont Senior's Darius Hubbard said of having multiple rushers find the end zone. "It brings everybody together."

Stingo continued his run of impressive play, completing nine of his 16 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns, as well as running in a five-yard touchdown.

"As a whole we're more consistent, and that's something we've tried to focus on as the season's gone on," Bartic said. "Up front, we're finally in a position where we aren't jig-sawing guys around. That's gone a long way, and overall the focus, even with the skill guys has improved."

"And then the play of Dom Stingo, you can't say enough about what he's done here in this run, the playoffs. Our offensive coaches say he looks like a man possessed out there and I have to agree with them. That has gone a long way in feeding everyone else's play on offense and ultimately the consistency has been what's improved."

"Me and Stingo have been playing together since Pop Warner," Nealy, who has now caught a touchdown in every game of the postseason, said. "Stingo's a very good quarterback. He throws it where it needs to be and I go catch it."

"He has a chip on his shoulder and he's determined to prove something," Bartic said of Stingo. "He's playing inspired football right now and it shows."

Poca did answer back, largely because of Toby Payne's 50-yard reception on a tipped pass. The Dots' Brandon Moore ran it in for an eight-yard score, and Poca came to life on the ensuing kickoff.

The Dots surprised Fairmont Senior with an onside kick, which they recovered. They eventually faced fourth down against a Bears defense that refused to break, and a 27-yard field goal came up short with a minute to go in the half. Fairmont Senior lead 21-7 going into the locker rooms.

Poca tried another onside kick to start the second half, but this time, the Polar Bears jumped on it.

"Didn't let them rally into a momentum swing — they were getting it there, and we were able to regain it," Bartic said. "Starting the second half, we don't score but we drive it, control that field position and especially in playoff games, field position is a premium."

Fairmont Senior built the lead to 28-7 after Evan Dennison returned a punt from Poca's 19 back to Poca's 12, and Stingo called his own number a few plays later to run in for a score.

The Dots tried a different type of trickery with a fake punt on their next drive, but the Bears stuffed it, and Nealy caught his second touchdown on a lofted pass to the back of the end zone from 25-yards away as the third quarter wound down.

Fairmont Senior played a lot of their second unit from there on out.

Tasker, who finished with 51 yards rushing, broke free with 7:05 to go in the fourth to score a 38-yard touchdown and put the cherry on top of the game.

With the win, Fairmont Senior advances to play Independence in the state title game in Wheeling. It's a familiar place for the Polar Bears, but one that they took a much different route to get to this year.

"Injuries, COVID, different things, but we had a shot to get in there if we could put it together, and we were able to do that," Bartic said, "In the middle of that— don't count out the Bears. That's what we tell our guys, never count out the Bears. We got our opportunity and they've made the most of it. In there you have men of honor, Wheeling Park and Coach [Chris Daugherty], they made our game a no contest rather than taking a forfeit and that's what big-time programs do. Now that we're in, our guys have clicked at the right time."

The Polar Bears enter the championship game as the 16 seed, something that hasn't been done since 1995 when Musselman — now a triple-A school — did it in 1995.

"These guys are something," Bartic said. "They are a unique bunch. So it makes sense they've done something unique."

"Losing in the regular season to those triple-A schools really motivated us and made us better," Nealy said. "I think that's fueled us throughout the postseason. We took that and ran with it."

"We had to build our way up," Smith said. "Now that we made it by a little bit into the playoffs, now we have to show everyone why we deserve to be No. 1."

Reach Nick Henthorn at 304-367-2548 or by email at nhenthorn@timeswv.com.