FAIRMONT — As Monday’s practice came to a close, the Fairmont High School football team was running 40-yard sprints with coach Mark Heil looking on, blowing his whistle, signaling the players to start their runs and yelling,“we’re in the fourth quarter, how about pushing it.”

Every drill the team runs has a reason behind it, and Heil wants his team to learn the value of finishing strong through the numerous sprints underneath the lights at the end of a two-hour practice.

“We’ve got to finish,” Heil said. “You’ve got to finish. I don’t care what you play in sports. I don’t care what you do in life, you’ve got to finish. In everything you do in life, you’ve got to finish what you start.”

As far as No. 3 Fairmont has come, the road ahead doesn’t get any easier when it travels to No. 2 Southwest Edgecombe in Pine Tops on Friday for the third round of the 2-A state playoffs. Fairmont (11-2) throttled South Columbus 44-6 on to advance to the third round of the state playoffs for the first time since 1949. Lessons and some of the game plan from that second-round game can serve Fairmont well on the road this Friday.

Southwest Edgecombe (12-1), much like the the Stallions, will look to do most of its damage on the ground, and has several seniors in the backfield that will look to get into the open field. The Cougars average 322 rushing yards per game and will be a step up from what the Golden Tornadoes saw last week.

But the basic fundamentals of the Fairmont run defense will be mostly the same as far as stopping the ground attack.

“We’re going to have to tweak it a little bit because their running game’s a little different,” Heil said. “They’ve got some nice speed, and they’re not big, but you can tell they are well coached on both sides of the ball.

“The key to the game is the defensive front, like what happened last Friday.”

Fairmont will line up opposite of three Southwest Edgecombe backs that have combined for over 3,300 yards, according to MaxPreps, in seniors Marcus Williams Jr., Keanan Williams and Trevon Pittman. Marcus Williams Jr., an Elon commit, leads their corps of backs with 2,001 yards on 235 carries and 33 touchdowns.

“You don’t want that kid out in open space,” Heil said of Marcus Williams Jr. “We can not let him hit those c-gap, off tackle holes — which is where he gets his bread and butter from to me — and the quick tosses. (We have to) make him run sideline to sideline instead of north-south.”

Heil and his staff are unsure what Southwest Edgecombe will come with defensively to match up against the Fairmont offense, but feel like they have seen different looks that will help them be able to make in-game adjustments if needed.

“It’s very difficult to figure out what they’re going to do,” Heil said. “In the last four weeks, we have seen about anything that anyone can give us.”

Southwest Edgecombe brings experience along with the luxury of playing at home Friday night. This is the second straight year that the Cougars have made it to the third round of the state playoffs after Northeastern bounced them on the road last year in the third round.

Even though this is the first time in over 60 years that Fairmont has been in this situation, Heil still wants his team to finish what it has started.

“Right now, I feel like they want to keep playing,” he said. “If you look back at the Westover game to now to see what this team has done, those kids should be very proud of themselves.”

Rodd Baxley | The Robesonian Fairmont quarterback Julius Caulder has paced the Golden Tornadoes in their first two playoff games. The junior has accounted for 10 touchdowns in the postseason.
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_rsz_i.jpgRodd Baxley | The Robesonian Fairmont quarterback Julius Caulder has paced the Golden Tornadoes in their first two playoff games. The junior has accounted for 10 touchdowns in the postseason.
Tornadoes traveling to Southwest Edgecombe for 3rd round of state playoffs

By Jonathan Bym

[email protected]

Jonathan Bym can be reached at 910-816-1977. Follow him on Twitter @Jonathan_Bym.