FAIRFIELD — Fairfield High School’s football team is taking a lot of pride in using the brotherhood motto.
Indians coach Jason Krause, who enters his 13th season at the helm, said it seems to be working wonders heading into the 2024 season.
“The biggest thing we’ve tried to focus on is being a tighter-knit brotherhood — being there for your brother and more of a family unit,” Krause said. “Things are tough. You’ve got to be able to look to our left and to our right, front and behind, and understand that we’ve got guys who are there that are going to pick us up and make things positive. That’s kind of been our biggest focus.”
There’s another focus, too.
The Indians haven’t had back-to-back losing seasons since Krause’s first two years at the helm in 2011 and 2012. Fairfield went 3-8 a season ago.
“We’re taking a lot of pride thinking in the fact that we haven’t had consecutive losing seasons since my first two years here,” Krause said. “Obviously, that’s a point of emphasis that can’t happen again. There’s a lot of pride in our kids in understanding what this program has been through and where it needs to get back to.”
For that to happen, Fairfield first needs to replace Talon Fisher — one of the school’s best quarterbacks who started all four years of his prep career.
Fisher was the Greater Miami Conference Player of the Year in 2023, and in four years, he threw for over 4,000 passing yards, rushed for over 3,500 yards and was responsible for 84 total touchdowns.
“Coming out of last season, that was the first thing we had to look at,” Krause said. “We had a four-year starter, which is super rare in high school — especially in our conference. We’ve got to replace that. We’ve got three guys battling for that position right now. They all have their plusses and minuses with their game, and our job is to find that out before we play Wayne.”
The Indians open the season against the Warriors at Fairfield Alumni Stadium on Aug. 23.
“The offense has changed, for sure,” Krause said. “Talon Fisher was really good with all the run and read stuff that we did. He left his mark with this program with all the numbers he put up. We don’t have that athlete at quarterback anymore. Things are changing quite drastically. We’ve got to find the trigger man to make that thing work.”
Senior Tyler George will be a given in the offensive backfield. He amassed 1,104 all-purpose yards, had 17 receptions and found the end zone twice last season. George also had 28 total tackles and two interceptions.
“We came together right off the bat,” George said. “We’ve got a few new coaches that have been working perfectly. The tempo and the speed with our practices have been great. We’re always doing our job every day.
“This year, the motive for us is to finish games. Statistically, we had one of the best offenses in the GMC. We just didn’t close games out. That’s definitely our motive.”
Senior Aiden McGuire is back on the placekicking duties. McGuire, regarded as one of the best kickers in the area, has connected on 96 of 101 extra point attempts and 11 of 14 field goal tries in his career.
Junior linebacker Raymir Coney returns after registering 60 total tackles as a sophomore.
Other players to keep an eye out on is senior Derion Prophett (WR), senior Mason Gatto (LB), senior Carson Scott (C), senior A’Shion Ruff (WR), senior Tyon Spiller (S), senior Ryan Riemenschneider (OT), junior Marcos Tiderman (LB), junior Gabe Ross (S), junior Kane Fisher (DL), sophomore Cam Crigler (OG), sophomore Kobe Lewis (OLB) junior Joseph Traore (DL) and sophomore Kayvon Burns (WR).
“You’re going to see a group that will play hard and play together for sure,” Krause said. “I think the brotherhood motto has stuck. I think our kids have really taken some ownership of that.
“You’re going to see a team that plays fast on offense. We will be faster on defense, and we will fly around. Our kids will play with pride.”
IN THE KNOW
Fairfield has made the playoffs every season since 2015. … Krause has a 74-65 record at Fairfield and is 159-133 overall (27 years). … The Indians lost five games decided by seven points or less in 2023.
2024 FAIRFIELD INDIANS SCHEDULE
