Preston earns first win of 2026 over East Fairmont, 21-7
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KINGWOOD, W.Va. -- Preston dominated the first half and held off a fourth-quarter surge to enjoy a 21-7 home victory over East Fairmont Friday night.
The win snapped a nine-game losing streak for the Knights (1-4), and it also marked the fewest amount of points it had given up in a game since its 47-7 win over Buckhannon-Upshur back on Nov. 1, 2024.
“I thought we did a good job setting the tone in the first half, and we controlled the game,” Preston coach Mark Deep said. “The only reason we didn’t get anything sustained was because of penalties, but I’m proud of the kids. They were prepared and have been putting a lot more time in on HUDL. It showed.”
That preparation seemed to pay off as the Knights held the Bees to just 30 yards of total offense in the first half which served as a catalyst in building their 21-0 lead, and it would have been 28-0 if not for a holding penalty wiping out of a touchdown late in the half.
Unfortunately for Preston, that would be the first of two times a touchdown was nullified due to a penalty as it lost another one off the board on the last play of the third quarter.
What could have been a 35-0 lead was still just 21-0, and in the final stanza of action, East Fairmont had a chance to flip the game on its head.
Tyler Hudson dialed up a pass downfield to a wide-open Trenton Culp for an 85-yard strike to close the gap to 21-7 with 8:59 to play.
Then following a quick three-and-out, East Fairmont drove into Preston territory near the red zone, but the Knights batted down a pass in the end zone on fourth and 10 to give itself a chance to run out the clock.
The Knights did just that thanks to time-killing runs from quarterback Rowan Cramer and running back Zaden Peddicord.
“We had some drive-killers, for sure, and a couple of those penalties were our fault as a staff, but you know, a lot of these are preventable errors,” Deep said. “We’ll have to go back and look at that, but overall it was an ugly second half on both sides because of penalties.”
Preston had 10 penalties for 100 yards while East Fairmont committed nine infractions for 65 yards.
However, the deciding factor of the game was Preston’s convincing first half in all phases.
The Knights opened the scoring at the 9:16 mark of the first quarter when Cramer took a QB keeper into the end zone from five yards out just one play after he scrambled 55 yards. Brady Taylor’s extra point made it a 7-0 lead.
Late in the first quarter, Cramer showcased his talents through the air with a dot to Kaleb Stone for a 55-yard hook-up which doubled the lead to 14-0 (PAT good).
The two would record another touchdown connection less than three minutes into the second quarter when Cramer found Stone on a screen pass, and Stone darted across the field, turned the corner and raced 53 yards to paydirt to make it a commanding 21-0 lead (PAT good).
It was a well-rounded outing for Cramer as the signal caller had a good roll of the dice on 8 of 12 passing for 148 yards and two scores. He also added 98 yards on 15 carries on the ground.
His favorite target on the night was Stone who hauled in five catches for 126 yards and two TDs.
“I think we could’ve run QB ISO 30 times today, it was our best play,” Deep said. “Overall, with the Buckwheat Festival going on this week and some guys being in and out because of the event, I thought we really did a good job.”
With its first win coming after an impressive performance in a 35-28 losing effort at then-undefeated Robert C. Byrd, the Knights look to continue this momentum on the road next week when they battle Baldwin (Pa.).
“I told them, the Hampshire game was the Hampshire game -- it is what it is -- but we were only down 15-8 at the half against North Marion, and we played toe-to-toe with Byrd,” Deep said. “We’re getting better, and now that we got that first win, we’ve got the monkey off our backs.”
East Fairmont (1-4), meanwhile, hosts Robert C. Byrd at 7 p.m. next Friday.