The Fairmont Firebirds Men's Soccer team traveled to Lebanon last Saturday to take on the Warriors of Lebanon High School. The last time the teams met was in the second round of the 2023 state
tournament, where the Birds came out on top 1-0. This year’s matchup saw the Birds runaway with a 6-1 victory, and it all started in the first minute of play when senior Nate Bittner bagged his first goal of the season courtesy of a long throw-in from Charlie Pochet. Five minutes later, the hosts grabbed an
equalizer from what appeared to be offside from the attacker, but the goal stood. Senior captain Grey
Danner was close to giving the Birds the lead again in the eighth and twelfth minutes, but his headers
just missed wide of the left post on both attempts. The attacking duo of Freddy Irakoze and Bien
Niyonkuru played well off of each other, with Irakoze supplying a cross to Bien in the seventeenth
minute whose header was saved by the goalie, and Irakoze found a path to goal a minute later but was
unable to get his shot off. In the twenty-first minute, Torin Brock smashed the ball against the crossbar
and on the rebound a Warrior defender was whistled for a handball. Senior captain Will Herman
stepped up to the spot and sent a vicious strike past the outstretched palm of the keeper to restore
Fairmont’s lead. Danner tested the keeper a minute later following a pass from Bien, but his low,
blistering shot was kick-saved by the keeper. The Birds were relentless in their attack, and they grabbed more breathing room in the twenty-third minute when Aaron Black sized up a cutback pass to man-of-the-match Herman who notched his second goal of the game. Nassim Hennaoui added a fourth in the thirty-third minute when he let loose a missile that smashed the underside of the crossbar and crossed over the line. Fairmont went into halftime with a comfortable 4-1 lead.

The Birds gave the Warriors no solace in the second half, and with only two minutes played, Irakoze sent a right-footed cross into the box that found Bien rise above the crowd and head the ball into the net. Two minutes later, Brock set up Irakoze who took two touches and sent a right-footed curler into the right upper ninety of the goal. Fairmont continued its assault with six corners in the second half (eleven total) and comfortably won the match 6-1.