Fairfield Prep pulls away from NFA in second half
Fairfield — The Norwich Free Academy defense looked good to Fairfield Prep coach Keith Hellstern when he was watching film to prepare for this game.
And it looked good in the first quarter Friday too, a game between Class LL opponents which began in the daylight with a 6 p.m. start and finished under the lights at Fairfield University's Rafferty Stadium.
NFA stopped Prep on its first possession, standing up running back Sean Nelson on fourth-and-one, and forced the Jesuits to punt on their next trip down the field after big hits by lineman Joe Desir and linebacker Cameron Belton.
“On film, they had a good, physical front,” Hellstern said. “And we didn't help ourself with field position. … As the game wore on, we kind of battled our way through.”
Prep senior running back Doug Harrison, who missed last season with a knee injury, finished with 22 carries for 100 yards and two touchdowns, though, eventually lifting the Jesuits past NFA 24-12.
Fairfield Prep (2-0) was a Class LL playoff qualifier last year and is receiving votes in The Day's Top 10 poll, ranked 13th overall.
NFA (1-1) won last week's game over another Class LL opponent in Xavier, 26-13, getting a 13-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown by Belton.
The Wildcats then trailed just 7-6 against Fairfield Prep with 4 minutes, 56 seconds remaining in the first half after NFA quarterback Elijah Parker hit sophomore Sean Preston with a 5-yard touchdown pass.
Fairfield Prep answered that with a long drive, however, resulting in a well-thrown 21-yard touchdown strike from quarterback JP Iaropoli to Finn Duran.
Iaropoli unleashed the ball on a line and Duran made a diving catch in the left side of the end zone to lengthen Prep's lead to 14-6 with 55 seconds left in the half.
In the second half, NFA drove the ball from its own 1-yard-line to near midfield before fumbling the ball away.
After that, the Wildcats' offense struggled to move the ball against the Jesuits, keeping it for just 1:58 on its next series, and that left the defense in a tough spot against a hard-running Harrison and the Fairfield Prep offense.
Prep got a 23-yard field goal from Murray McCarthy to make it 17-6 and added a 29-yard touchdown by Harrison with 3:03 to play, on which Harrison bounced off the line of scrimmage and kept churning. That made it 24-6.
“Any time you can make a stop, move the ball, that's our goal,” said NFA coach Jason Bakoulis, in his second season. “You've got to take it one rep at a time, no matter what. … A lot of credit to Fairfield. They're hard-working, well-coached. They played hard tonight.
“You learn from everything no matter whether you win or lose. We'll get into the film and learn and get better.”
NFA put together a 62-yard drive on its final series, capped by a pair of completions from Parker (173 yards, 2 TDs) to Andrew Cote which covered 40 yards. Parker hit Cote for 22 yards on fourth-and-9 from the 40 and then threw him an 18-yard touchdown pass to the left side with 19 seconds remaining.
“Give NFA a ton of credit. They played well after the long road trip,” Hellstern said. “There's very little margin for error against teams in LL and this is not even the playoffs.” v.fulkerson@theday.com