By Chris Neyenhouse

Fair Grove storms back to beat Buffalo 28-14

FAIR GROVE — For home games, Fair Grove enters the field with the audio of the emergency announcement from The Purge movie blaring in the stadium.

The Eagles faced a calamity of their own on Friday night. They passed the test.

Fair Grove overcame an early two-touchdown deficit and a makeshift offense to prevail 28-14 over Buffalo in a Mid-Lakes Conference matchup.

The Eagles attempted only four passes in the game, as temporary quarterback Gage Bailey and running back Harrison Martin helped Fair Grove tally over 250 yards on the ground.

“That’s not really been our M.O. the last couple of years,” said Fair Grove coach Bill Voorhis of the run-heavy approach. “I told them that before the game, that tonight was going to have to be an unselfish game. I had no idea what it was going to take to win the game, but groups of guys were going to have to be unselfish. I’m really proud of them for embracing that role tonight.”

With starting quarterback Gavin Thomason unavailable to play this week, the Eagles planned to have Martin – who normally plays a receiver/running back hybrid role – play quarterback against Buffalo.

But when running back Wyatt Hallam suffered an arm injury late in the first quarter and could not return, the Eagles scrapped those plans. Martin became the primary running back and Bailey was inserted at quarterback despite few recent snaps at the position.

“Our boys, we’re tough,” Bailey said. “We’re just going to pound it at you until you prove you can stop it. That’s what we had to do tonight.”

After Buffalo jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead, Fair Grove responded with touchdowns on its next four possessions. It was methodical but effective – three of those four scoring drives took nine plays or more.

“This was probably the most adversity I can remember in one single game since I’ve been here,” Voorhis said. “Some of it was self-imposed and some of it we can’t help with the injuries.”

The Bison (0-3 overall) also played shorthanded, losing running back Tyler Valma and safety Trey Aven to injury in the first half. Junior quarterback Isaiah Young tallied over 250 total yards for Buffalo. The Bison were 3-0 in their last three trips to Fair Grove.

Fair Grove (2-1 overall, No. 8 in Class 2 state media poll) is coming off its best season in program history. The Eagles finished state runner-up in Class 2 and graduated perhaps the best class to ever come through the program.

This past offseason, Fair Grove’s returning players heard the naysayers dismissing the team’s 2025 outlook.

“Nobody really had faith in us coming in. I still don’t think people have faith in us,” Bailey said. “But that’s all right. We know what we’re capable of and we’re going to prove some people wrong this year.”

Said Voorhis: “People on the peripheral kind of feel that way. They just didn’t understand the guys we had coming back. Hopefully our kids didn’t believe that. I think they understand we had a pretty good core of guys coming back.”

Thomason was in uniform but did not play Friday night due to a disciplinary decision by the team. Voorhis said Thomason will return at quarterback for the Eagles in next week’s conference game at Hollister.

All three of Buffalo’s losses thus far have been within two-score margins. The Bison will try to crack the victory column when they host Strafford next Friday night in another MLC contest.

Fair Grove 28, Buffalo 14

Buffalo 14 0 0 0 — 14

Fair Grove 7 14 7 0 — 28

First quarter

Buffalo – Young 3 run (kick failed)

Buffalo – Young 5 run (Aven catch from Young, 2-point conversion)

Fair Grove – Bailey 1 run (Brock kick)

Second quarter

Fair Grove – Martin 1 run (Brock kick)

Fair Grove – Bailey 3 run (Brock kick)

Third quarter

Fair Grove – Martin 9 run (Brock kick)