A week earlier, the Fayette Falcons watched a late comeback fall short against the Harrisburg Bulldogs. On Friday, October 30, with their season on the line and less than a minute remaining, they found themselves chasing the same opponent again.

This time, they finished the job.

Fayette senior quarterback Colten Cross connected with sophomore Keilin Pulliam for a touchdown with 37 seconds remaining, giving the Falcons a 12 to 8 victory in the opening round of the Class 1 District 7 playoffs. The Falcons reversed the previous week’s 22-14 loss, held Harrisburg scoreless in the second half, and earned another week of football.

The comeback was remarkable not only for its timing but also for what Fayette had endured before kickoff.

“It was a rough week,” head coach Kenny Grubb said.

Fayette had only practiced on Tuesday and Thursday. By Thursday afternoon, Grubb had learned that senior Brodi Tucker would be unavailable, forcing a change at fullback. Sophomore Llewellyn Paxton was expected to fill the position, but by about 1:30 Friday afternoon, he too was unavailable. The coaches had to shuffle personnel on offense and at middle linebacker just hours before the game.

“There was some scrambling and some game plan change at the last minute,” Grubb said.

For a team already facing a postseason rematch on the road, the situation was far from ideal. The Falcons responded by leaning on their defense and trusting players in unfamiliar roles.

A first half of missed chances and one surprise

Fayette won the coin toss and elected to kick off, opening with an onside kick that Harrisburg recovered near its own 46-yard line. The Bulldogs moved into Fayette territory, but the Falcons forced a turnover on downs.

Fayette’s first possession ended with a fumble recovered by Harrisburg. Again, the Bulldogs had an opening, and again, the Falcons’ defense kept them out of the end zone.

The first quarter became a contest of field position. Harrisburg’s pressure disrupted Fayette’s offense, while penalties and incomplete passes kept the Bulldogs from converting their opportunities into points.

“I didn’t think we came out with the energy we needed to,” Harrisburg head coach Parker Howard said. “We have to start out of the gate a lot faster.”

Fayette finally broke through early in the second quarter. Cross broke a long run that carried the Falcons near the Harrisburg 10-yard line. The Bulldogs tightened up near the goal line, but Cross found senior Ledgyr Conrow for a touchdown with 9:36 remaining. The two-point attempt failed, leaving Fayette ahead 6-0.

For most of the half, the score looked as though it might hold. Harrisburg struggled with penalties, while both defenses produced stops. Then, junior Kadyn Weldon intercepted a Fayette pass with 1:14 remaining, giving the Bulldogs one more chance.

With 31 seconds left in the half, Harrisburg unveiled a double pass. Sophomore quarterback Brody Combs threw to Weldon, who passed to sophomore Rylan Smiley in the end zone.

“Brody threw it to Weldon. Weldon threw it to Smiley in the end zone,” Howard said.

The Bulldogs had installed the play during the week for just such a situation. With so much ball movement on the field, the Falcons struggled to catch up. “Luckily it worked,” Howard said.

Harrisburg converted the two-point attempt and headed to halftime leading 8-6.

Defense keeps Fayette within reach

The Falcons opened the second half with a sustained drive from their own 31-yard line. Cross and Pulliam helped move the offense across midfield and into Harrisburg territory, but the Bulldogs stopped a fourth-down run behind the line of scrimmage.

Harrisburg could not capitalize and punted, pinning Fayette back near its own 8-yard line. The Falcons worked out of that difficult position, but their next drive stalled after a sack and eventually ended with a fourth-quarter fumble.

At nearly every turn, the Bulldogs’ defense made Fayette work for its yards. Howard credited Austin Smith and Beau Wardrip, along with Combs, Will Cole, Alden Washburn, Weldon, and Smiley, for helping keep Harrisburg in front.

“Defensively, we played hard. We played a good football game, but whenever you don’t get it done offensively, it makes it really tough,” Howard said.

Fayette’s defense was doing equally important work. The Falcons held Harrisburg scoreless after halftime despite repeated changes in field position and a narrow deficit that left almost no room for mistakes.

“Man, our defense played well,” Grubb said.

He especially praised a defensive line that had to adapt without familiar personnel. Freshman Reed Syferd stepped in at middle linebacker and attacked downhill, playing in a different jersey number from his usual one.

Grubb joked that Syferd might have played so aggressively because “he felt like he was incognito because he wasn’t even wearing the right number.”

The defensive effort gave Fayette something it needed more than a perfect offensive performance: one last possession with a chance to win.

One stop, one drive, one more week

Late in the fourth quarter, Harrisburg was trying to protect its 8-6 lead by running the clock. Grubb had to decide when to spend Fayette’s remaining timeouts. He worried that waiting too long would leave too little time, but Harrisburg kept moving the chains.

After finally using a timeout, he told his coaches the plan.

“Look, I got one more. Get me a stop here, I’m going to get a timeout. We’re going to go two minutes and go down and score,” Grubb recalled.

Cross provided the stop himself, intercepting a fourth-down pass. With approximately 1:40 remaining, Fayette had the ball, a little time, and a season to save.

The Falcons had not practiced their two-minute drill that week. Worse, the late personnel changes meant players were operating in positions they did not usually occupy during the drill. Yet the offense suddenly looked composed.

“We probably ran it as well there as we’ve ever run it, whether it was practice or a game,” Grubb said.

Pulliam caught an early pass and stepped out of bounds to stop the clock. Grubb emphasized the importance of that decision. Rather than fighting for a few extra yards, Pulliam protected the time Fayette needed to finish the drive.

A fourth-down conversion by Cross kept the season alive, and a 15-yard facemask penalty against Harrisburg pushed the Falcons deeper into Bulldog territory. Cross then found Pulliam near the 7-yard line before connecting with him again for the touchdown with 37 seconds left.

The conversion failed, but Fayette now led 12 to 8. Harrisburg tried to answer with a final deep passing series, including another double-pass play, but the Falcons’ defense held.

Grubb said Cross’s performance was about more than the decisive interception and touchdown pass. With two unfamiliar fullbacks rotating through the offense, the senior quarterback had to make adjustments on the fly. After an early fumble, Cross encouraged his teammates rather than blaming them.

“He did nothing but encourage those guys,” Grubb said. “That is the true mark of a leader.”

Grubb saw the night as another example of his team’s growth through a difficult season. One lesson he has preached, he said, is to respond to setbacks by concentrating on the next snap.

“You’ve got to play the next play. Bad stuff’s going to happen,” he said, describing what he calls a “this play” mentality.

That approach carried Fayette through the turnovers, the lineup changes, and a halftime deficit that ultimately proved to be the Bulldogs’ last advantage.

Harrisburg’s season ends after a year marked by injuries, a thin roster devoid of seniors, and the challenge of developing young players under first-year head coach Howard.

The Falcons may not have had the week of preparation they wanted, but when the game reached its decisive moment, they had enough.

“They just handled it,” Grubb said. “They just handled it.”

Fayette moves on to face longtime rival Salisbury in the district semifinals on Friday night at Salisbury. The first-seeded Panthers are coming off a first-round bye sporting a perfect 9-0 record and are ranked No. 2 in statewide in Class 1. Salisbury won the district last season, defeating Harrisburg for the title.

Elsewhere in the district, second-seeded Westran hosts Van Far, the third seed. Friday’s winners will advance to the district championship on November 14.