Fayette lost its third game in a row by a wide margin Friday night, falling to Maysville 46-20 at home. The Falcons now drop to 2-4 overall.

But despite the frustrating scores over the last three weeks, Fayette coach Kole Hinton said his team is improving week after week.

“It comes down to focus and effort and discipline. I think we did that a lot better in the second-half than in the first half tonight. And we’ve done it a lot better this game than last game, and at Westran,” he said.

Fayette is still a very young team, with sophomores and freshman starting alongside a handful of juniors and seniors. The Falcons started freshman Ledgyr Conrow at quarterback for the first time after seeing some varsity action in earlier games.

At the beginning of the season, it appeared junior Kaleb Friebe would be the Falcons’ play caller this season. But Hinton admitted Friday it was the plan all along for Conrow to assume the quarterback position, and presumably, become a four-year starter.

“We talked as a team. Over the summer, our plan was to transition to Conrow. I think he’s a little more natural of a quarterback,” Hinton explained. “Kaleb is a heck of an athlete, but I think he serves us better as a wideout. We just kind of needed him as a quarterback until Ledgyr was ready to step into it. After a few JV games and some varsity time, I think he’s ready.”

Conrow passed for 145 yards and a touchdown, completing 15 of 31 attempts in his starting debut.

“He’s a pretty poised kid. I think he’s where we need him to be,” Hinton said about his freshman starting quarterback. “I think it’s unfortunate that he has to go through this season with so many kids who are not where we want them to be.”

Leading the Fayette receiving once again was sophomore Payton Oeth with three catches for 73 yards and a touchdown. Estes made five grabs for 47 yards. Vroman followed with three catches for 31 yards, followed by Friebe with three receptions for 19 yards and sophomore Jaron Cross with a pair for two yards.

Vroman once again led the rushing charge with 23 carries for 116 yards and two touchdowns. Estes ran eight times for 24 yards.

Fayette opened Friday’s game in the hole. Maysville ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown and scored a two-point conversion, putting the Falcons behind by eight just seconds into the game. Hinton chalked it up to his young players still learning game speed.

“It’s just different on a Friday night compared to what practice is,” he said. “In a game, if you’re half a second too early or half a second too late, that’s the difference. We have to get better at getting up to game speed a lot quicker.”

The Falcons first play from scrimmage ended with a punt from deep in their own territory. Meanwhile, the Wolverines continued to score, more or less, at will. By the end of the third quarter, Maysville was leading 20-0.

But Fayette found its way to the endzone early in the second quarter. Oeth set up the scoring drive by returning a punt to the Maysville 44-yard line. Vroman than broke free for 31 yards to put the Falcons in the red zone. Junior running back Micah Estes brought Fayette within five yards as the horn sounded the end of the first quarter.

Fayette opened the second period just five yards short of the endzone. Vroman pushed his way through the Maysville defensive line over three plays to finally break the plane and put the Falcons on the board. The two-point conversion failed, holding the Falcons to six points.

After falling behind 28-6, Fayette found the endzone once again before halftime. The drive started on the Maysville 49-yard line and would have fizzled out but for a trick play on fourth down. Friebe took the snap, but instead of punting, found Estes open with a 22-yard pass to give Fayette a fresh set of downs.

The Falcons again inched their way downfield. A run to the 1-yard line by Estes set up a short scoring rush by Vroman to give the Falcons six more points.

But Maysville kept its foot on the gas and scored once more with 25.8 seconds left before halftime to lead 34-12 at the break.

The third quarter was more of the same, with Fayette struggling to move the ball on offense. The Falcon defense, however, showed sparks of life. Midway through the period, Cross and junior lineman Jacob Wood smothered Wolverines quarterback Kris Gabbard to force a punt on a long fourth-down situation. Cross then blocked the punt, setting up the Falcons with fantastic field position on the 22-yard line.

Fayette got as close as the 10-yard line, but a penalty sent Fayette back to the 34-yard line and the Flacons eventually turned the ball over on downs.

Moments later, Maysville senior running back Draken Bennett found room and ran 63 yards down the field for another touchdown to put the Wolverines in full control, 40-12.

Early in the fourth quarter, it looked as if Maysville would run up the score. But an interception by sophomore D’andre Kioh returned possession to the Falcons on their own 25-yard line. Two minutes later, Conrow connected with Oeth for a 44-yard touchdown pass.

The two hooked up again on the two-point conversion, making Fayette’s score 20 to Maysville’s 40.

The Wolverines would score one more touchdown on a 13-yard scoring run as the game clock ticked just under two minutes. But the point-after kick attempt was blocked by Wood. It was the junior’s third blocked kick of the year.

Fayette had one final chance to score in the closing seconds. Estes took the handoff and then stepped back to pass, but the ball was intercepted as time ran out, ending the game with Maysville in front 46-20.

Despite the lopsided score, Hinton said he is proud of how his players are pushing to get better. “It’s a testament to the consistency of our team that no one has jumped ship. No one’s pointing fingers on the sidelines. I think we’ve had more coaching and more encouragement from our players on this night than any other game this season—talking about coverages after a play; talking about blocking assignments when we’re in a huddle. We’re starting to become a team that’s playing football together and is doing the little things to get better. They’re a great, coachable bunch of kids.”

Hinton said that building a winning football team isn’t something that can be done in a season. Rather, it’s a multi-year process. “We’re just concerned about getting better. That’s our bottom line. Our goal is the process, not the result. Our goal is to get better every single week and then we will eventually get to the point when we will win a ball game.”

The Falcons hope their third win of the season comes this week as they host rival Salisbury for Homecoming. Friday’s game marks the first of two remaining contests against Lewis & Clark Conference teams. A week later, Fayette will play its final L&C game ever at Harrisburg. Both Fayette and Harrisburg have elected to leave the dwindling conference to help start a new conference with six other schools. The teams will officially begin competing in the Central State 8 next fall.

Friday’s game will kick off at 7 p.m. The Homecoming King and Queen will be crowned at halftime.