CENTERVILLE — One week earlier, it appeared Fairfield had finally turned its luck around in games decided by the slimmest of margins.

One week later, it was another area team’s turn to finally break through in a close contest.

Centerville, who fell seven points short in its last two district contests to Fort Madison and Mount Pleasant, didn’t let its third time to earn its first win of the year slip by. Touchdown passes by Michael Starcevich to Logan Brown and Ben Grothe in a 79-second span turned a three-point Fairfield lead into an eventual 26-23 Big Red win late Friday night in Appanoose County.

There may have been some who were surprised to see Centerville slow down the late-season momentum of the Trojans. Fairfield head coach Mike Schenck would not be among them.

“We had seen on film that Centerville had the opportunity to beat both Fort Madison and Mount Pleasant in the previous weeks,” Schenck said. “We knew going in Centerville had the ability to win this game.”

While it was a breakthrough night for the Big Reds, it was another Friday night of close competition that didn’t go the way of the Trojans. Five of Fairfield’s eight games have been decided by seven points or less, with the Trojans falling short in four of those five contests.

Fairfield’s lone close win came just one week earlier, when the Trojans overcame six turnovers to edge Fort Madison on a touchdown and two-point conversion, 8-7.

“We certainly had hoped that we had turned the corner in those kind of close games,” Schenck said. “It really just came down to a couple of turnovers and letting Centerville get some big plays through the air.”

Starcevich connected on three touchdown passes by the end of the night, throwing for 235 yards to put the Big Red signal-caller over 1,000 passing yards for the season.

It took a while for both Centerville and Fairfield to get going. Part of that was solid defense, which led to a scoreless first quarter, while part had to do with a band of thunderstorms that caused the game to be delayed for an hour by lightning just as the action was getting under way.

“I don’t know if that affected anything too much. It was pretty warm inside the school,” Schenck said of the delay. “We sat inside for an hour. It wasn’t a good situation, but it was the same for both teams.”

Once the action got back under way and the scoring began, the game was a close back-and-forth affair. The Trojans countered Brent Jackson’s 22-yard field goal that started the scoring in the second quarter with a two-yard touchdown run by Mason Carnahan, as Fairfield took a narrow 7-6 lead into the half.

Starcevich then connected on an 18-yard pass to Levi Sebolt with 6:16 to go in the third quarter. Less then a minute later, Fairfield struck back with Vince Horras’ one-yard touchdown and two-point reception putting the Trojans up by three heading to the fourth.

While Fairfield was able to counter Centerville with its own scores, other promising drives were wiped out by mistakes.

“We had three turnovers that just killed us,” Schenck said. “We were driving for a score and turned it over. We also had the ball inside the 10, got called on a delay of game penalty and got sacked to knock us out of scoring on that drive.”

A fourth quarter 66-yard reception by Brown from Starcevich with 7:33 left in the game gave the Reds the lead. Centerville (1-7, 1-4) would add to its lead with Grothe’s 30-yard touchdown catch with 6:14 left to make it 26-15.

The Trojans would score with 11.7 seconds remaining, to make the score 26-23 on Spencer Peterman’s 6-yard touchdown catch. The score completed a very solid night for Fairfield quarterback Dillon Fry, who threw for 155 yards to join Starcevich and Keokuk’s Gabe Vandenberg as 1,000-yard passers in Class 3A, District 6.

“I thought Dillon did a much better job in making good decisions throwing the football,” Schenck said. “Right now, our biggest problem is hanging onto the football. We’ve had nine turnovers in the last two weeks. We’ve had entire seasons where we haven’t turned the ball over nine times.”

The last-minute score by Fairfield (2-6, 2-4) may have been exactly what the Trojans needed to make the postseason. The three-point loss still keeps Fairfield in position to qualify for the playoffs if Mount Pleasant loses at unbeaten Williamsburg next week.

“I can say they were disappointed in the outcome, but our kids have had a great attitude all year,” Schenck said. “That score is indicative of our team. They’ve been very supportive of each other and they play to the end.

“It just comes down to one of these weekends coming out, not turning the football over and we’ll be a much better football team.”

Centerville 26, Fairfield 23

Fairfield  0    7    8    8    —    23

C’V         0    6    6    14    —    26

Scoring Summary

Second Quarter

C — Brent Jackson 22 yard field goal, 7:59

F — Mason Carnahan 2 yard touchdown run (Matt Carr kick), 4:11

C — Jackson 32 yard field goal, :34

Third Quarter

C — Levi Sebolt 18 yard pass from Starcevich (2 point failed), 6:16

F — Vince Horras 1 yard touchdown pass from Dillon Fry (Horras pass from Fry), 5:25

Fourth Quarter

C — Logan Brown 66 yard pass from Starcevich (Jackson kick), 7:33

C — Ben Grothe 30 yard pass from Starvevich (Jackson kick), 6:14

F — Spencer Peterman 6 yard touchdown pass from Fry (Fry run), :11

TEAM STATISTICS

                Fairfield    Centerville

Rushes-yards    34-113        34-127

Passing yards    155            235

Total Yards    268            362

Comp-Att-Int    10-25-1        14-31-1

Return Yards    5-126        3-64

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Fairfield

Passing — Dillon Fry 10-25-1, 155 yards.

Rushing — Mason Carnahan 18-87 yards, Fry 15-19 yards, Narendra Martin 1-7 yards.

Receiving — Spencer Peterman 5-81 yards, Alex Shier 3-66 yards, Martin 1-7 yards, Vince Horras 1-1 yard.

Tackles (top three) — Kooper Dahlstrom 7, Josh Dimmitt 7, Jake Mineart 7.

Centerville

Passing — Michael Starcevich 14-31-1, 235 yards.

Rushing — Grant Walker 20-72 yards, Houston Moore 7-29, Starcevich 6-25, Gabe Cowan 1-1.

Receiving — Levi Sebolt 5-81, Logan Brown 2-77, Ben Grothe 1-30, Walker 4-23, Kolton Gonnerman 1-22, Moore 1-2.

Tackles (top three) — Riley Denny 19, Cowan 15, Moore 13.