By DAN BISER

FAIRMONT – An encouraging 12-7 halftime lead quickly deteriorated for the East Columbus Gators Friday night as they suffered turnovers on six straight second-half possessions in a 37-12 non-conference loss to the host Fairmont Golden Tornadoes.

The loss dropped the Gator record to 1-2 while Fairmont improved to 1-1.

“We battled poor field position and then kept turning the ball over,” sad ECHS head coach Travis Conner, whose squad had snapped a 16-game losing streak a week earlier with a 41-7 decision over West Columbus. “We lost the focus we had in the first half, and things started to snowball on us.

“We have to be able to handle adversity better than we did tonight,” he added.

The Fairmont defense accounted for 16 of the Tornadoes’ 30 unanswered halftime points with a fumble recovery in the end zone by Sam Poole, a 66-yard pass interception return by Lamar Powell and a safety.

East Columbus got two second quarter touchdowns on a three-yard run by Gerard Bullock and a 10-yard slant pass from Alex Williamson to C.J. Ganus.

Dorell Ford led Fairmont rushers with 90 yards on 10 carries while Ascare Douglas carried 15 times for 51 yards and two touchdowns. Travis Jessup added 73 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. Kicker Michael Bass converted all five of his extra point attempts.

Fairmont head coach Kim Brown said his team defense played with a lot more aggressiveness in the first half.

“We knew we would have to put more pressure on them to control their running game,” said Brown, whose team had lost to Pender 18-12 in its Aug. 18 season opener. “Fortunately we came up with some turnovers that helped turn the game in our favor.

Williamson, the quarterback in the Gators’ spinner offensive attack, carried 23 times for 57 yards.

After falling behind 7-0, the Gators drove 70 yards in 15 plays with Bullock smashing over from the three-yard line to cut the deficit to 7-6 with 11 minutes, 24 seconds left in the second quarter.

Fairmont fumbled the ball away on its next snap and the Gators’ Jermaine Daniels recovered at the Tornado 21

It took the Gators seven plays to score as they used a big fourth-down pass from Williamson to Richard Jones to keep the drive alive. The touchdown pass to Ganus came on another fourth-down play to give the Gators a 12-7 lead.

Midway through the third quarter, a Fairmont punt was downed at the ECHS one, and two plays later a bad snap resulted in a fumble recovery and touchdown by Poole that put Fairmont ahead 14-12 with just over four minutes left in the third quarter.

The Gators fumbed away their two possessions and Douglas ran 13 yards for a Fairmont touchdown after the next one to make the score 21-12.

A tipped ECHS pass in the fourth quarter was grabbed by Powell, Fairmont’s 6-foot-4, 220-pound defensive end and he returned it 66 yards for another TD.

Jessup’s TD run and the safety wound out the scoring.

East Columbus will travel to play Red Springs this Friday night while Fairmont is scheduled to visit Overhills.

F – Ascare Douglas 5 run (Michael Bass kick).

EC – Gerard Bullock 3 run (kick blocked).

EC – C.J. Ganus 10 pass from Alex Williamson (run failed).

F – Sam Poole recovered fumble in end zone (Bass kick).

F – Douglas 12 run (Bass kick).
F – Lamar Powell 66 interception return (Bass kick).

F – Safey. East Columbus recovered fumble in end zone.

F – Travis Jessup 30 run (Bass kick).