Fairley Football

By Pete Wickham
Special to The Commercial Appeal
Saturday, September 27, 2008

Fairley 26, (10) White Station 10

If the small army of college coaches pursuing Fairley senior Martavius Neloms needs a fresh highlight reel, Friday night’s 26-10 win over White Station ought to do the trick.

Neloms’ finger- and footprints were all over the Bulldogs’ victory over the 10th-ranked Spartans at Halle Stadium. He racked up a dozen tackles and intercepted two passes on defense, where he is expected to play at the next level.

White Station’s Brandon Hayes is stopped by Fairley’s defense in the first half of the Bulldogs’ 26-10 victory.

In the third period, after Neloms’ first interception, he hauled in a 42-yard fourth-down pass from Devin Stark on a fake punt. That led to Terrence Harris’ 5-yard TD run, which gave the Bulldogs a 26-10 edge going into the final period.

Neloms’ teammate, Antoine Walker, also contributed big-play touchdowns — an 89-yard reception from Stark and a 70-yard block field goal return.

“I like the interceptions, because DB is my main position,” Neloms said. “But everything comes because of the hard work we put in on the practice field and in the weight room. All that work is paying off.”

The Bulldogs (4-2) limited White Station (2-3) to just seven yards rushing, in large part because of their seven sacks of Spartans quarterback Andrew Marino. Three were by lineman Jimmy Robinson.

“We been playing defense as well as we think we should,” Fairley coach Rahnmann Slocum said. “Tonight the defense really stepped up.”

Stark threw for 176 yards, including a 20-yard pass that Walker turned into an 89-yard score to put Fairley ahead 7-3 on its first possession. The Bulldogs got 105 yards rushing from Derrick Murrell and a 12-yard TD run in the third quarter from Artavious Gregory.

“We make our skill guys run track, and that improves their football speed,” Slocum said.

See the full story click here.

FAIRLEY 26, WHITE STATION 10
Fairley    13    0    13    0    —    26
White Station    3    7    0    0    —    10

W — Brennan Wilbanks 36 FG
F — Antoine Walker 89 pass from Devin Stark (Roregis Garrett kick)
F — Antoine Walker 70 block field goal return (kick failed)
W — Anthony Hayes 1 run (Brennan Wilbanks kick)
F — Artavious Gregory 12 run (Roregis Garrett kick)
F — Terrence Harris 5 run (kick failed)
F        W
First downs               14       9
Net yards rushing    127     52
Net yards passing    176    140

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Fairley, Derrick Murrell 11-108.
PASSING — Fairley, Devin Stark 5-8-176-1, De’Andre Buford 0-1-0-0. White Station, Andrew Marino 12-24-140-3.
RECEIVING — Fairley, Antoine Walker 1-89. White Station, Julian Burton 4-67, Keon Johnson 3-45.
RECORDS — Fairley 4-2, White Station 2-3.

Sourece:  commercialappeal.com

The Fairley football team traveled across town tonight to play Raleigh-Egypt. The Bulldogs defeated the Pharaohs 42-12 to go one and one in region play.  Even though the offense was a little sluggish in the first half, the defense and special teams played very well leading the boys to victory.

Many outstanding individual efforts were recorded including Justin Elliot’s play at corner which included an interception return for a touchdown and multiple tackles, Tay Neloms three interceptions and a reception for a touchdown, freshman Cortez Caldwell’s play on special teams and Roregis “Hot Rod” Garrett perfect on all six extra point attempts. The defensive line consisting of Jimmy Robinson, Wayne Lauderdale, Cliets Walker and Carl Lewis played their best game of the season and stayed in the Pharaohs backfield.

Fairley travels to Halle Stadium next week to take on 5A White Station which defeated Germantown tonight.

Go Bulldogs!
by Mark Hogan

Game Statistics – www.commercialappeal.com
Fairley 42, Raleigh-Egypt 12: Devin Stark passed for 222 yards and three touchdowns as the Bulldogs improved to 3-2 and 1-1 in Region 8-4A.

FAIRLEY 42, RALEIGH-EGYPT 12
Fairley    0    21    0    21    —    42
Raleigh-Egypt    6    6    0    0    —    12
R — Darius Woods 47 fumble recovery (pass failed)
F — Artavious Gregory 3 run (Roregis Garrett kick)
F — Justin Elliot 44 interception return (Roregis Garrett kick)
F — Artavious Gregory 55 pass from Devin Stark (Roregis Garrett kick)
R — Marquize Brand 25 run (run failed)
F — Martavious Neloms 25 pass from Devin Stark (Roregis Garrett kick)
F — Terrence Harris 3 run (Roregis Garrett kick)
F — Derrick Murrell 22 pass from Devin Stark (Roregis Garrett kick)
F        R
First downs              19       9
Net yards rushing    96      73
Net yards passing    222     8

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Raleigh-Egypt, Marquize Brand 24-101.
PASSING — Fairley, Devin Stark 12-20-222-1. Raleigh-Egypt, Sergia Hawkins 2-9-8-2.
RECEIVING — Fairley, Fred Garrett 4-69, Martavious Neloms 3-33, Artavious Gregory 1-55.
RECORDS — Fairley 3-2 (1-1, Region 8-4A), Raleigh-Egypt 0-5 (0-2, Region 8-4A).

The Bulldogs bounced back from an upset loss to East last week and evened their record at 2-2 with the high-scoring victory over the winless Tigers (0-4). Fairley totaled 446 yards in the victory, as senior quarterback Devin Stark tossed a pair of touchdowns, caught two and rushed for another.

Excerpts from article by Andre Johnson

Special to The Commercial Appeal
Saturday, September 13, 2008

Fairley defensive back De’Andre Buford admittedly spent the entire week praying that he would encounter a season similar to the one he enjoyed last year as a member of the Booker T. Washington football team.
“I’ve been wanting to come to Fairley since I was six years old,” Buford said. “I just wanted to come over here and help Fairley win. I felt that coming here and getting good exposure, I could get me a scholarship.”

Read the full story click here

ABC 24 Video click here

FAIRLEY 64, MITCHELL 30
Fairley 14 25 13 12 — 64
Mitchell 6 18 0 6 — 30

M — Cortez Hudson 10 pass from Robert Redmond (kick failed)
F — Derrick Murrell 21 run (Roregis Garrett kick)
F — Justin Elliot 10 run (Roregis Garrett kick)
F — De’Andre Buford 45 interception return (kick failed)
M — Keiwone Malone 45 pass from Robert Redmond (pass failed)
F — Fred Garrett 18 pass from Devin Stark (Roregis Garrett kick)
M — Keiwone Malone 10 pass from Robert Redmond (pass failed)
F — Devin Stark 34 pass from De’Andre Buford (pass failed)
F — Devin Stark 33 pass from De’Andre Buford (run failed)
M — Keiwone Malone 7 pass from Artaves Gibson (pass failed)
F — Martavious Neloms 34 pass from Devin Stark (Roregis Garrett kick)
F — Derrick Murrell 4 run (run failed)
F — De’Andre Buford 25 interception return (pass failed)
M — Artaves Gibson 11 run (run failed)
F — Devin Stark 8 run (kick failed)

F        M
First downs     27      19
Net yards rushing     247   110
Net yards passing     199    171

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Fairley, Derrick Murrell 4-60, Artavious Gregory 8-64. Mitchell, Artaves Gibson 13-106.
PASSING — Fairley, Devin Stark 7-11-132-1, De’Andre Buford 2-2-67-0. Mitchell, Robert Redmond 12-23-164-3, Artaves Gibson 1-1-7-0, Lonnie McGee 0-1-0-1.
RECEIVING — Fairley, Devin Stark 2-67, Martavious Neloms 3-34. Mitchell, Keiwone Malone 7-114.
RECORDS — Fairley 2-2, Mitchell 0-4.

Football Athletes of the Week
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Offense
DEVIN STARK, Fairley quarterback: A 6-3, 180-pound senior, Stark led the Bulldogs to a 64-30 victory over Mitchell last Friday. He threw two touchdowns — one for 25 yards and another for 43 — ran for a 10-yard TD and caught two touchdown passes of 33 and 34 yards. Stark’s efforts helped Fairley improve to 2-2.

Source: commercialappeal.com

Excerpts from article by Devin Misko.  Click here to read the whole article.
Special to The Commercial Appeal
Saturday, September 6, 2008

It was fitting that the game between East and Fairley at the Fairgrounds came down to the final minutes.

After all, the first half featured two touchdowns scored within the first minute of play, a blocked punt to set up a touchdown for East, a 20-play Fairley touchdown drive, and a halftime lead of 16 for East, which only needed 11 plays to score on its first three possessions.

Still, the Bulldogs (1-2) rallied to cut the lead to 30-28 on an 11-play drive that ended when quarterback Devin Stark hit receiver Martavius Neloms from 6 yards out. Fairley lined up for the two-point conversion, a run to the right for back Justin Elliott, but the Mustang defense broke through the line to stuff the play in the backfield.

It took Fairley just 21 seconds to get on the scoreboard to open the Region 8-4A contest. Derrick Murrell caught the East kickoff at the Bulldog 15-yard line, stepped left and accelerated through a crease, down the left sideline to the end zone. The extra point was good, and Fairley led 7-0.

On its next possession, Fairley used 20 plays to go 73 yards, scoring on a 12-yard screen from Stark to Artavious Gregory in the right flat. The extra point was good, bringing the score to 14-14.

Starting on their own 17, the Mustangs used a 42-yard run from back Jamison Knox to propel a 13-play drive that ended as time expired when Parker scrambled to his right, eluded three Bulldog defenders and spun back to his left, crossing the entire field and scoring from 7 yards out. The conversion gave East a 30-14 lead at half.

After stopping East on fourth down on the Fairley 33-yard line, the Bulldogs scored on a 10-play drive that ended with a toss to Murrell from 15 yards out with 1:39 left in the quarter.

Following an East punt with 4:34 left in the game, Fairley used 11 plays to get to the East 6-yard line, scoring with 1:11 to play.

“Life is about chances,” Fairley coach Rahnmann Slocum said. “We had chances to make things happened, and we didn’t take advantage.”