KETTERING - On Saturday night the Fairmont Men's Soccer hosted the Elder High School Panthers at Fairmont Park Stadium. Fairmont set the tone early on with a high press in the defensive third to force turnovers and hopeful long balls that the Birds’ defense handled with aplomb. Fairmont’s strong start produced an early lead in the fifth minute when Torin Brock played a ball into the feet of Grey Danner, who saw his shot take a slight deflection off a Panther defender and into the net.

Fairmont continued to search for a second goal and had several first half opportunities to increase its lead but just could not find any pace or accuracy with their shots. The Panthers’ best opportunity came in the thirty-first minute when their forward raced through the midfield and into the Fairmont penalty area, but senior captain and Man-of-the-Match Chris Schafer intervened with a perfectly timed tackle to knock the ball away. The Birds went into halftime with a 1-0 lead.

Fairmont controlled much of the second half and protected the Park well, allowing the Panthers to
waste time trying to build out from their back line but having nothing to show for it. Nate Bittner nearly doubled the lead in the forty-eighth minute with a diving header that the visiting keeper saved from close range.

Fairmont put in a gritty performance, and Danner’s lone goal was all that was needed to elevate the Birds to 7-2-1 in the season. The Birds host Northmont High School at Fairmont Park Stadium this Tuesday, September 23rd with JV kickoff at 5:30 p.m. and Varsity kickoff at 7:15 p.m.