Fitch races past Harding, 59 | Sports | Content Marketing Institute

Oct 22, 2022 Staff photo / Joel Whetzel.

Austintown Fitch’s Jamell James runs for a gain against Harding Friday night.

AUSTINTOWN , Austintown Fitch struck early and often, as the Falcons rolled to a 59-28 win over visiting Warren G.

Harding on Friday night at Falcon Stadium.

The Falcons (9-1) raced out to a 21-0 lead by the end of the first quarter courtesy of a 2-yard Jamell James run, a 26-yard pass from Cam Smith to Dan Evans III and a 35-yard halfback pass from DJ Williams to Evans.

From there, Fitch maintained control over the visiting Raiders (2-8), who never got back to within a score the rest of the night. “You go down (Harding’s schedule) and see the teams they played and how tight they played, and we thought to ourselves this is going to be a war,” said Fitch coach TJ Parker. “They win this game, and they could possibly be the 10-seed (in the playoffs), that’s where they were at. … They have a team who could do a lot of things, and for us to come out like this just shows the desire for these kids to keep playing and finish what they started.” James, Smith, Evans and Williams were the keys in the victory, as they provided explosive play after explosive play for a Falcon offense that scored on every drive but its last one when reserves were on the field.

Smith completed 6-of-10 passes for 91 yards and a score and added 48 yards and a score on the ground.

Evans hauled in five receptions for 113 yards and two touchdowns, while Williams racked up 118 yards on 10 carries.

James, meanwhile, carried the ball 24 times for 211 yards and five touchdowns.

In all, Fitch outgained Harding 515-285. “First, you have to start with our offensive line,” Parker said. “You get (James and Williams) in space, and I think Cam did a good job of just managing it.

When they started packing the box, he started getting the ball out to Dan Evans, and then (Evans) putting pressure on the outside, and then guys started to expand and then Jamell and DJ are two special kids.

You get them a little bit of room, and that’s what they do with it.” Harding trimmed its deficit to 21-7 and then 24-14 on a pair of Dalys Jett touchdown runs in the second quarter, but couldn’t quite get over the hump and back into the mix.

Jett ran 16 times for 78 yards and three scores in his finale with the Raiders, while Ryan Powell added 53 yards on seven carries.

Drew McKowan had the Raiders’ other touchdown, a 12-yard run.

Khamari Adams had a pair of receptions for 45 yards, and Devin Boss added two grabs for 42 yards.

The loss brings Harding’s season to a tough end. “It’s disappointing, but as I told the kids at halftime, I’m very, very proud of them,” said Harding coach Steve Arnold. “And I’m going to tell them that right now (after the game), because we played hard all year long and we competed. (Fitch is) a really good football team, and we just ran into a buzzsaw in Week 10.” He added, “This was just one of those years, man.

It’s just one of those years. … Things never clicked.

We could never put four quarters together, and there’s a lot of components in that.

We have to coach better, have to play better, and there are a lot of things we need to do and reassess this offseason.

With an eye to the future, Arnold says the Raiders lose just 10 seniors from this year’s squad. “The good thing is, 80 or 90 percent of our roster is coming back,” he said. “We had 10 seniors.

I’ve never known as long as I’ve been in Warren for a Warren team to have 10 seniors.

So a lot of talented kids are coming back and we have to grow from it.” Fitch, meanwhile, will gear up for a postseason run in Division II, Region 5.

According to JoeEitel.com, the Falcons are locked into the fourth seed as the playoffs begin. “It’s honestly a new season for us with Cam back at quarterback and guys banged up,” Parker said. “But I think this is a resilient group, and I think they really, really love being the underdog and coming together and being counted out.

That bonds them, and I think we’re pretty excited about what we can do.” jwhetzel@tribtoday.com Today's breaking news and more in your inbox COLUMBUS , Sidney Crosby scored the 79th game-winner of his career and rallied Pittsburgh from a two-goal deficit ...

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