Fairfield Falcons hope to swoop down on Lakeland and pick up a win Friday

ELKHART COUNTY, Ind. -- This Friday marks another week of high school football in Michiana.     

It's Week 8 for the Hoosier teams with just one week left to go in the regular season before playoffs.  

ABC57 viewers chose Fairfield vs. Lakeland for this week's Game of the Week.

The 3-4 Fairfield Falcons are looking to rebound after an overtime nail biter last week.

"We've played in a lot of close contests," says Cory Stoner, Fairfield High School Varsity Football Head Coach. "We lost by 1 at Jimtown, we lost by 1 last week, we won by 1 at CMA, so it's been a very emotional season." 

The Falcons have been getting ready in practice to swoop down on the Lakeland Lakers in the hopes of picking up a win.

Stoner, in his second season at Fairfield, says those close games have motivated his team to become the best versions of themselves by playoff time.

"I think our best days are still ahead of us," Stoner says. "I think it's making us better for the long-haul, our sectional is basically our conference running it back and so we're going to get to see some of these guys again and we're excited about that second opportunity." 

"Our record doesn't exactly show who we are right now," says senior running back Warren Kaufman.

Fourteen seniors are at the helm of the 75-man roster.

Senior linebacker Jack Larson is a solid force on both sides of the ball, racking up 30 tackles so far.

Then there's senior running back Warren Kaufman, the offensive workhorse in the back field with 653 rushing yards and ten touchdowns under his belt.

Stoner hopes Kaufman is able to make his return under the lights Friday after being out for the last game and a half.

"We've had young guys step up and really carry the torch and do a really nice job, but Warren is definitely that old-school fullback that our team kind of feeds on," says Stoner.

"You got to be able to fill the role and be able to drive your teammates to be better every day and keep going," Kaufman says.

On offense, the Falcons pound the rock, living by Stoner's "Knock on the Door" philosophy.

"We say 'knock on the door', keep knocking on the door 4 yards at a time and then it's amazing by the second quarter those 4-yard gains are going for 6 and 7, by the end of the game: 10, 15, 20," explains Stoner. "We like to wear teams down and really shorten the game clock a little bit in our favor." 

That, along with putting pressure on their opponent to produce more turnovers will be the key to success.

However, their opponent, the Lakeland Lakers have a strong arm in quarterback Brayden Holbrook, and he loves to throw the ball.

"We have got to do a great job of containing him; we've got to do a great job of keeping him in the pocket and not extending plays where he's really the most dangerous," Stoner says.

If things don't go their way, Stoner trusts his team will do their best to properly respond.

"Events are outside of our control a lot of times," says Stoner. "The only thing we get to control is our response, our emotions, our attitude, our effort. And so that's kind of been the constant theme and this team's embodied that, especially this senior group."