Bearcats cannot recover from devastating first quarter
Christopher-Zeigler-Royalton's 2016 home opener began with Fairfield's Wyatt Borah bobbling the opening kickoff.
That might have been the only mistake the Mules made all night.
Borah eventually gathered the ball, found an opening up the middle, broke a few tackles, then cut outside and down the left sidelines for a 75-yard return to the Bearcats' 10-yard line.
Devon Butler plunged in from a yard out two plays later, the start of a 41-point first quarter for Fairfield. To their credit the Bearcats never quit, but Christopher was overmatched on its way to a 62-6 defeat in front of a good-sized crowd at Spann Field.
"The kickoff we had him wrapped up four or five times," Christopher coach Josh McCurren said. "It was poor tackling to start off the game."
Fairfield (2-0, 2-0 in the Black Diamond Conference) struck quickly after its opening score. The Mules recovered an onside kick, then quarterback Macklin Snyder found a wide-open Jayden Lewis on a 46-yard touchdown reception for a 16-0 lead.
Christopher (0-2, 0-2) went three-and-out on its opening possession, and Borah made it 23-0 with a 62-yard run on the Mules' next play.
When Dylan Heitner scored on a 6-yard run, Fairfield led 29-0 with 7:12 still remaining in the first quarter.
"Fairfield is a very good football team," McCurren said. "They are going to win a lot of games this year. They are very physical. We do have to get a better start, no doubt about it."
Fairfield added 23- and 50-yard touchdowns from its quick strike offense, scoring on six of its nine first-quarter plays to lead 41-0 after a quarter.
Borah, who rushed for 132 yards on just 3 carries in the game, scored on a 56-yard carry in the second quarter.
While the Bearcats continued to struggle to slow the Mules, they began putting together some impressive drives of their own.
Kaeleb Pedigo capped a 10-play drive with a 19-yard touchdown run down the left sideline, putting the Bearcats on the scoreboard with 2:59 left in the second quarter.
"I knew what I had to do," Pedigo said. "I was pretty far out but I got around a couple guys and stretched it out, and I got at least one touchdown."
Christopher nearly scored again just before halftime. Derek Mueller caught a deflected pass on quarterback Cam Newton's Hail Mary attempt, giving the Bearcats a first down at Fairfield's 20-yard line just 2.5 seconds before halftime.
On the final play of the half, Newton threw long to Steven Anderson, who caught the ball but was tackled at the 1-yard line as time expired.
Newton finished 8-of-12 passing for 93 yards. Pedigo led the team with 39 yards rushing and 28 receiving yards on 4 catches.
With a running clock in the second half, the Bearcats got several of their backups in the game including sophomore quarterback Antonio Parks.
Christopher returns home next week to host Edwards County, a new member of the Black Diamond Conference.
