Troy 49 Fairborn 14

High School Football
Home Team: Fairborn Skyhawks
Visiting Team: Troy Trojans
Venue: Fairborn Memorial Stadium/Buschemeyer Field
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

As I tend to do, I waffled for a while about whether I was going to go to this game or not. There was rain in the forecast—for later in the evening, it's true, but I wasn't sure I wanted to chance getting soaked to watch a game the Trojans were likely to win going away. But then I found out that this was going to be the last game played at Fairborn Memorial Stadium before the Skyhawks move into a new home next year, and that seemed like a pretty cool thing to be a part of, and so I decided to risk the rain.

Weather-wise, it turned out I had nothing to worry about. I had a poncho just in case, but the rain held off through the game and for my drive back to Columbus. The game, at least at the start, looked like it might be a Friday the 13th horror story. A number of unforced errors, including silly penalties and a turnover, gave Fairborn a 7-0 lead with under four minutes left in the first quarter, and it looked like the Trojans hadn't come to play at all. A fired-up Coach Everhart brought the whole team into a huddle on the sideline after the TD and gave a quick, very animated speech to all of them.

It worked. Following the kickoff, star fullback Jahari Ward went 61 yards to the house to the the score. From there, it was all Trojans—despite one last piece of bad luck. As the first quarter was winding down, after another long run, Ward had to be helped off the field with a leg injury and did not return to the game. In his stead, the Trojans turned to a stable of other backs, who, despite limited chances so far this season, turned out to be pretty capable.

I have no doubt that Fairborn's new stadium will be much nicer than this one. I can't speak to the home side, but the visitors' stands are small and cramped. I sat in the top row and still couldn't see about 1/3 of the field over the players on the sideline. That said, I liked coming here, the handful of times I did so. The lighting, always a crapshoot at high school stadiums in my experience, was great, and I'm a sucker for a neighborhood setting. The new place probably won't have that, but if it's easier to see the game, it's probably a fair trade. I look forward to seeing it when the Trojans play there in two years.