Staff photo / Neel Madhavan Austintown Fitch tailback Deon’Dray Richard (1) eludes a tackle by Green’s Reed Liberatore on Friday night in Austintown.

AUSTINTOWN — Coming off a bye week in the first round of the Division II, Region 5 playoffs, Austintown Fitch got off to a bit of a sleepy start on Friday night.

Despite falling into an early double-digit hole, the Falcons eventually woke up, as they forced two key turnovers in the second half and held on for a 28-25 victory over Uniontown Green in the regional quarterfinals.

“That’s a really good football team, and (Green head coach Mark Geis) does a really great job over there of just creating mismatches,” Fitch head coach TJ Parker said. “But to go down 17-7 and stare at that adversity versus a team that creates big plays all over, I thought our guys did a good job of following our ‘chop’ mentality that we’ve been talking about since the beginning of the year. And this is the result.”

It’s the first time in program history that Fitch has reached the regional semifinals two years in a row, according to Parker. The Falcons won two playoff games last year, before losing a shootout to Walsh Jesuit in the regional semifinal.

Fitch’s victory over the Bulldogs sets up a regional semifinal rematch against the Warriors next week. Walsh Jesuit advanced with a 49-18 victory over Nordonia on Friday night.

“From our players, from our staff, from the administration in the school, everybody works so hard,” Parker said. “To have this team represent them, and to just be able to celebrate all of that with our community and say we have a place in history with this team — it’s special to me, but I want it for those guys, for how hard everyone around me works. Football is not an easy game, and when you get to do stuff like this, it makes it really rewarding.”

The Falcons’ offense didn’t look too rusty from their bye to start the game.

After receiving the opening kickoff, Fitch marched methodically down the field, scoring on a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Colin Kalaher to Brady Evans.

But from there, Green started to take control. The Bulldogs answered with a touchdown drive of their own, as Evan Reed bulldozed into the end zone from 2 yards out to tie things up. During the drive, Green converted a fourth-and-15 in plus territory to keep the drive alive.

The Bulldogs then jumped on the Falcons, recovering a surprise onside kick. After stealing an extra possession, Green took advantage of the short field and took its first lead of the night on a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tyson Hunka to Aiden Rice.

Penalties backed up Fitch on its next possession and the Falcons were forced to punt. Faced with another short field, the Bulldogs added to their lead at the start of the second quarter when Logan Noirot kicked a 34-yard field goal.

“We didn’t get off the field on third down, and they converted some really, really big plays,” Parker said. “Offensively, we had a great (first) drive. But then if you look back, every drive we stalled on, we had a penalty. Those are killers, and that’s been a problem all year. I have to get that fixed. We have to get that fixed if we want to have a chance next week in the regional semis.”

Fitch’s Al-Tahire Illuono returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, but it was negated by a Falcons penalty near the start of the return.

Still, Fitch continued to move the ball on the ground with its backfield tandem of Deon’Dray Richard and Junie Higgs. The Falcons drove down, and Richard capitalized on the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run that cut Green’s lead to 17-14 at halftime.

Richard finished with 165 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries, while Higgs had 14 carries for 69 yards.

Fitch’s defense came up with three critical stops in the second half.

“We just flipped a switch,” Fitch linebacker Anthony Nespeca said. “We saw the scoreboard, took it personal and just kept chopping and got the ball back.”

After a 1-yard touchdown run from Richard, the Falcons’ defense forced a turnover on downs after Green drove deep into Fitch territory.

Then, while clinging to a 21-17 lead early in the fourth quarter, Nespeca recovered a fumble by Hunka along the sideline.

The Falcons converted the turnover into another score when Richard punched the ball into the end zone from a yard out to culminate a 76-yard drive.

“Those are gamechangers,” Parker said. “That team can score on you in a matter of under two minutes. So creating that lead and being able to do that was important for us to win this game and close it out.”

Nespeca then picked off Hunka, getting his hands on a tipped pass, for his second turnover of the night.

Hunka gave the Falcons fits all night. He ran for 114 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries, while completing 15-of-33 passes for 210 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

“Those were huge,” Nespeca said. “There was a completely different energy once I got the fumble and the pick, the team’s energy just completely changed.”

Green added a 12-yard touchdown run from Hunka with just over a minute to go, but Fitch recovered the onside kick to seal the victory.

“It’s great. I’ve never in my life been a part of a team like this,” Nespeca said. “Just making history, it’s awesome.”