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Fitch knocks off Harding, 42-33

Staff photo / Joel Whetzel Fitch’s Devin Sherwood throws a pass Friday night against Warren G. Harding on the road. He threw for 213 yards.

WARREN — Austintown Fitch never stopped believing.

Not after failing to take advantage of some early trips to the red zone. Not after letting a 10-point lead evaporate in the second quarter. And not after allowing Warren G. Harding to retake the lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Now, the Falcons will host a playoff game to begin the postseason.

Trailing by six entering the game’s final quarter, Austintown Fitch rallied for a 42-33 win over Harding at Mollenkopf Stadium on Friday night. It was the Falcons’ third win in a row.

The Falcons (6-3) entered the game ranked seventh in the Division II, Region 5 standings, and with the win cemented themselves in the top 8 and therefore will host a first-round playoff.

“Our kids believed, and they came out here and fixed some things at halftime that we thought could help us moving forward,” Austintown Fitch head coach T.J. Parker said. “The effort and the belief in each other was there, and once we got momentum on our side, our kids started to make plays and we never looked back.”

Fitch trailed 27-21 entering the fourth quarter, but retook the lead for good with 11:06 left in the period when Devin Sherwood ran in an 8-yard touchdown.

Then, on the ensuing kickoff, the Falcons sprung a surprise onside kick and recovered it in Harding (5-5) territory.

“We like to attack teams in all three phases, and when you show us something, we feel like we have the right time. They were giving us that look, and we wanted to strike,” Parker said. “So it was just the right opportunity to go for it. They were returning our kicks to the 40 anyway, so we may as well give it a shot.”

The gamble paid off, as the Falcons marched down for another touchdown, this one a 29-yard pass from Sherwood to Tyler Evans, to go up 35-27.

“It was a key point in the game. There were a lot of key points in the game, but that certainly was one. That was the main turning point in the game,” Harding head coach Steve Arnold said.

Harding answered with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Dalys Jett to Tyriq Ivory, but a subsequent 2-point conversion pass fell incomplete and allowed the Falcons to maintain the lead.

With two timeouts and 4:16 left in the game, Harding had a chance to get the ball back and go for the win, but big plays by the Fitch offense — and by tailback D.J. Williams in particular — allowed Austintown to land a haymaker.

Fitch kept to the ground for the most part, melting the clock down and keeping the ball away from the Raiders, save for a 28-yard completion from Sherwood to Dominic Perry to convert a big first down.

Then, a couple plays later, Williams delivered the dagger, a 24-yard touchdown run up the middle that put Fitch ahead 42-33.

“I knew the situation, knew we were up two so I had to just stay in bounds and keep pushing the ball,” Williams said. “Just work the clock and know how our scheme works, and then we cut one.”

Williams finished the night with 80 yards and two scores on 17 carries, while Sherwood threw for 213 yards and two touchdowns.

Of delivering the haymaker and helping to earn his team a home playoff, Williams said, “It means a lot. We didn’t have a lot of home games this year, so it’s another home game for our seniors. I love our senior class, so we just got another home game for them.”

It also marked a disappointing turnaround for Harding, whose defense had kept the Raiders in the mix early before giving up big plays in the second half.

“We weren’t finishing plays. Sherwood did a good job of ad libbing and making plays for himself and his teammates,” Arnold assessed.

Harding got the ball back with 1:29 to play, but the drive ended with an interception by Davion Prichard, his second of the game.

Fitch initially raced out to a 10-0 lead courtesy of a 22-yard field goal from Josiah Berni and a 43-yard touchdown pass from Sherwood to Cam Smith. Meanwhile, the Raider offense was sputtering early, as Harding went 3-and-out to begin its night and then turned the ball over on its next two possessions.

Then the pendulum swung the other way. Harding answered that Falcon touchdown with a 71-yard touchdown drive capped by a 3-yard Jett touchdown run, and then used back-to-back Fitch turnovers to take a 21-10 lead late in the half. Jett hit Konyae Redd for a 20-yard touchdown pass, and then ran in a 4-yard touchdown.

The Falcons stopped the hemorrhaging with a 35-yard Berni field goal with 13 seconds left in the half.

“The seniors are used to winning and winning a lot. When adversity strikes, they’re looking at sophomores they’ve never played with, and the sophomores are looking at them and that belief sort of melts away,” Parker said. “Then when you start making plays, guys get fired up and they start believing in each other and good things happen. That was a tale of two halves.”

In the third quarter, Fitch tied the game on a 4-yard run from Williams and a 2-point conversion pass from Sherwood to Jayden Eley.

Ryan Powell gave the lead back to Harding with a 4-yard run. He finished with 97 yards and that score on 11 carries.

“He’s going to be a good one. He’s just a sophomore and still learning the game obviously, but he ran the ball extremely well for us tonight,” Arnold said. “He’ll continue to get better as we move forward.”

And now, moving forward, the Raiders will be away from Mollenkopf. Harding entered the night ranked ninth in the Division II, Region 5 standings, and a win likely would have delivered a home playoff game for them instead.

“We just have to pick ourselves up. Wherever and whoever we play, we just have to be ready to play,” Arnold said.

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