Fairfield earns sectional championship in win over rival Whiteoak 

EBER — The No. 2 seeded Fairfield Lions have advanced to the next round and are sectional champions once again, as they defeated a county and conference rival, the No. 15 seeded Whiteoak Wildcats, in their Division IV SE District Sectional Final game Saturday night at Miami Trace High School, 63-27. 

It took a few moments for the Lions (20-3) to get roaring offensively, as they led 11-7 after the first quarter, but it was their defense that was the showcase of this game, holding the Wildcats to 11 points in the first half, leading 25-11 when halftime arrived. 

“We practiced a lot against the zone this week, because we figured that they would throw some different zones at us,” Fairfield head coach Quentin Williams said. “Coach [Greg] Patton did a good job. They had a good game plan. They ran three different types of zones in the first half to kind of keep us off balance, kind of guessing what they’re in and plugging the gaps. 

“Once we kind of got it figured it out and got settled, our defense is really what won it for us, honestly, especially in the first half. I mean, we were very stagnant, not the start we necessarily wanted, but holding them to 11 points in the first half was key in getting that lead coming out.”

In front of a massive fanbase brought by the Lions to MTHS in the Division IV game, Fairfield trailed early on against Whiteoak as Brady Brandenburg was first to score in the game for Whiteoak, 30 seconds into the game. 

After a jumper from Larkin Friend for Fairfield, Weston Blair made a free throw for WHS that put them back in front at 3-2 with 6:07 left on the clock. That lead lasted until the clock read 4:13, as Gabe Fouch scored a bucket in transition with the two points putting the Lions ahead at 4-3, and it was a lead FHS didn’t relinquish for the remainder of the game. 

From there, the Lions made consecutive 3-pointers at the 3:30 mark, when the Lions were thankful to have Friend sink a 3-pointer, and following an offensive foul by the Wildcats, Logan McIntosh drilled a 3-pointer as well, lifting the Lions’ lead to 10-3 with 2:49 left in the quarter. 

Blair broke up the 8-0 run by the Lions with a basket that cut the WHS deficit to five, and then that went to just three points as Blair, again, scored a basket in the paint with 1:27 left in the first quarter. Fouch made the last point of the quarter by sinking a free throw for the Lions, making the FHS lead four points at 11-7.

Fairfield’s offense came out in full force in the second quarter with a 14-4 scoring differential in that eight-minute span of game time, resulting in the Lions leading by 14 points at halftime at 25-11. 

The Lions scored the first seven points of the second frame with Griffin Friend — who came off the bench — knocking down a 3-pointer less than a minutes into the quarter. That was followed by Chase Newman — who also was added into the game — making a basket, plus Gabe Fouch scored points on a fast break with the assist by Trey House for an 11-point lead at 18-7 with 6:20 left in the first half. 

Whiteoak’s Brandenburg connected with a basket to cut the WHS deficit down to nine, but the Lions answered with consecutive baskets made by McIntosh and a 3-pointer by Cade Miller for a 25-9 advantage with 3:24 on the clock. 

WHS had the last scoring for the first half with a basket by Blair with 2:28 on the clock. 

Fairfield opened the third frame with a 3-pointer by McIntosh, as that quarter saw the Lions outscore the Wildcats 17-10 for a 42-21 lead after three quarters. 

The Lions in the third had seven points scored by Friend, five points from McIntosh, two points from Griffin Friend, and a 3-pointer was made by Miller. Whiteoak’s third quarter included two points by both Sawyer Blair and Zach Igo, one point by Zander Roades, four points by Aiden Crowe and a point from Tyler Wessner.

WHS scored six points in the fourth quarter with those baskets by Sawyer Blair, Crowe and Weston Blair. 

Fairfield’s 21-point fourth quarter had five points by Larkin Friend (including a 3-pointer), House with six points (as he also made a 3-pointer), four points by McIntosh, a 3-pointer by Dane Hodson, Fouch with two points and a 3-pointer from Miller. 

Larkin Friend led FHS with 17 points for the game, followed by McIntosh with 15 points and Miller with nine points. The rest of the Lions’ final scoring included: Fouch (seven), Griffin Friend (five), House (five), Hodson (three) and Newman (two). 

Weston Blair led WHS with nine points, followed by Crowe with six points, and Sawyer Blair had four points. The rest of the WHS final scoring was: Wessner (three), Brandenburg (two), Igo (two) and Roades (one). 

WHS had two seniors on their roster for the 2023-24 season, those players being Weston Blair and Dakota Clift. WHS ends the season at 6-18 overall, as they were 1-1 this postseason and 5-8 in SHAC games this season. 

“I’ve got a lot of respect for them,” Williams said of Whiteoak’s team. “Weston Blair, I want to give a shoutout to him. He's a great kid, heck of an athlete, and I wish him the best of luck in the future.” 

No. 2 seeded Fairfield (20-3) will face the No. 7 seeded Manchester Greyhounds (15-8) on Saturday, March 2 at 7 p.m. at the Ohio University Convocation Center in Athens, on the campus of Ohio University in the district semifinals. 

FHS had defeated Manchester twice this season by scores of 52-44 (Dec. 1, season opener) and 70-35 (Jan. 12). MHS defeated No. 10 South Gallia, 59-41 on Saturday at Piketon in their sectional final game. Manchester is currently on a six-game winning streak, and Fairfield has won their past three games. 

“I'm excited that they're getting it back to the Convo,” Williams said of his team. “Last year, that was my kids’ first experience when we got to the district finals, and just being in that different type of atmosphere and different kind of gym. I think it kind of hurt us a little bit. Having that experience from last year and being able to carry it over this year, I think it's going to be really big for us going forward.” 

BOX SCORE


WHS    07 04 10 06 — 27    
FHS     11 14 17 21 — 63

FAIRFIELD (63) — L.Friend 3 (2) 5-5 17, T.House 1 (1) 0-1 5, L.McIntosh 3 (2) 3-4 15, D.Hodson 0 (1) 0-0 3, G.Fouch 3 (0) 1-2 7, G.Friend 1 (1) 0-0 5, C.Miller 0 (3) 0-0 9, C.Newman 1 (0) 0-0 2. TOTALS: 12 (10) 9-12 63.

WHITEOAK (27) — Z.Igo 1 (0) 0-0 2, Z.Roades 0 (0) 1-2 1, S.Blair 1 (0) 2-4 4, A.Crowe 3 (0) 0-1 6, T.Wessner 1 (0) 1-2 3, W.Blair 4 (0) 1-4 9, B.Brandenburg 1 (0) 0-0 2. TOTALS: 11 (0) 5-13 27.
 

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