How Fair Grove outlasted Tolton in an even game between two history-making programs

With under a minute left and a two-score lead, Fair Grove head coach Bill Voorhis looked over at his offense and held his hands up in a V-formation.

The Eagles could finally exhale; they were moving on to the MSHSAA Class 2 semifinals with a 27-13 win, just the second team in Fair Grove history to make it that far.

The 11-0 Eagles had to fend off history on the other end. The best Father Tolton football in school history stood on the other end at 11-0.

It wasn't a simple game. Both teams turned the ball over, and both teams made mistakes. Both were also evenly matched with playmakers on both sides of the ball. Fair Grove separated itself from Tolton with just a few plays.

"At this point in the year, nobody's going to show up and have things go according to plan because you can't simulate this kind of opponent in practice," Voorhis said. "Nobody has that kind of depth, and so it becomes a match of just seeing who can outlast the other."

Fair Grove outlasted Tolton with a long touchdown from Spenser Seiger to Gavin Thomason and a late fourth-down stop.

Getting to that point required big plays and some mental fortitude. Penalties hampered both sides, but neither team gave much of an inch. When Tolton fumbled the ball away down 13-6, the Trailblazers got the ball back by forcing a fumble of their own.

Still, both rosters boasted playmakers, and Kellen Lair was proof of that. He scored three touchdowns in the first half: twice on short passes taken the distance and once on a kick return touchdown. Voorhis said those two receiving scores were a direct response to the opposing defense.

"Credit to them; they had a really good game plan with (Lair) running the football, so we had to do more of the passing game," Voorhis said. "You see things like that where he gets that kickoff and is able to take it to the house. Like he's just a special athlete."

The Trailblazers would not stay down, though.

Star quarterback Jake Ryan left the game in the fourth quarter with an arm injury that put him in a sling as he walked through the handshake line. His backup, Dominik Abadi, came in and lifted Tolton off the canvas with a strike to Sam Ryan that Ryan took into the end zone after shaking off a few would-be tacklers.

Abadi is next in line to start at quarterback with Ryan graduating. His coach was impressed with how he came in during a difficult moment.

"It's going to be interesting to see how he develops over the summer and next year, and see what he becomes," Tolton head coach Michael Egnew said. "These kids, they played their butts off, and we're super proud of them for that."

That score made it a 19-13 Fair Grove lead with 4:47 left. A stop and a score would tie the game. That's when Thomason found the end zone. A two-point conversion made it 27-13, and Fair Grove held from there.

Both teams were similar in a way. They were chasing that history.

Tolton already made history with its first 10-win season in program history and its first-ever district title. A loss does not diminish that.

"It should be understood that that's the best senior class we've ever had at this school," Egnew said. "That's commendable. That's something. These guys are competitors, so of course they're disappointed when they lose a game. But it's the best that's ever happened here. So that's also something to be congratulated."

Voorhis understood this and was extremely complimentary of Tolton after the game.

The mutual respect was admirable.

"It's obvious why they had the season that they did," Voorhis said. "The coaches do a great job. Kids were ready to play. They had a good game plan and just felt like our kids were resilient, just never gave up."

That resilience lived in Tolton after the game, too.

Egnew said it best: There are only a few teams that end their seasons with wins. Tolton wasn't one of those teams, but the Trailblazers know they've changed the expectations for this program and for their futures.

"You lose this game, but ultimately this season ends up being a win," Egnew said. "The kids learned lessons that they're going to live with for the rest of their life. They're going to use those lessons. They're going to face adversity, and they're going to know how to face it."

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: How Fair Grove outlasted Tolton in an evenly matched football game