FAIRFIELD — For Fairfield senior quarterback Brock Peace and his teammates, Friday night is about more than advancing another round in the Class B playoffs.
It’s another opportunity to keep playing alongside a group that has grown up together.
The Eagles enter Friday’s home playoff matchup against Three Forks having won seven straight games. For a senior-heavy Fairfield team that went through back-to-back 4-5 seasons, Peace said this year's turnaround has made the run even more meaningful.
“We’re very senior heavy this year, so we’ve all been playing together since we were in about fourth grade,” Peace said. “So it’s pretty special, you know, just growing up with each one of these guys. It’s like a family now.”
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Fairfield has 14 seniors, several of which have been playing significant varsity snaps since their freshman seasons.
Coach Aaron Barnett said that experience has helped the Eagles develop both confidence and chemistry.
“A lot of them have been playing and started for me since they were freshmen,” Barnett said. “They know the system well. They know our scheme. Just coming together and the chemistry that comes with playing as a group for multiple years and now being successful with it.”
Peace said a turning point came earlier this season with Fairfield's loss to Florence-Carlton. Rather than shaking the Eagles' confidence, the game helped show them what they were capable of.
“I think that loss to Florence woke us up big time, because I felt like we didn’t have as much confidence in ourselves,” Peace said. “But Florence is a really good team and we played with them, and we could have won that game, honestly, if we fix a few mistakes.”
Since then, Fairfield hasn't lost.
Barnett said that experience helped establish the mentality the Eagles are carrying into the postseason.
“We’ve been talking about this ever since the Florence loss, that every game is important,” Barnett said. “If you want to be the one seed, you’ve got to win every game. So we’re still in that same mindset, win or go home.”
Now Fairfield will face a dangerous Three Forks team with plenty of offensive firepower, one that saw star quarterback Kanon Reichman return from injury a couple weeks ago.
Barnett said the Eagles will lean on a defense he considers one of the state's best, but discipline will be critical against an offense capable of attacking in several ways.
“Their offense is dynamic. They do a great job with misdirection,” Barnett said. “Our defense is one of the best in the state, and we just got to make sure that we come out and play like that on Friday.”
For Fairfield's seniors, the stakes are impossible to completely ignore.
Peace said the group has come a long way since entering high school as undersized freshmen and has grown closer through years in the weight room, practices and time together away from football.
The Eagles also understand the football tradition they're trying to live up to. Peace, who moved to Fairfield from Great Falls in second grade, remembers watching successful Fairfield teams while growing up and seeing the reminders of that success throughout the school.
“There’s banners, there’s plaques everywhere. So there’s a standard here,” Peace said. “I feel like I just want to make the community proud because I know what we’re capable of.”
Fairfield now has an opportunity to add another chapter to that tradition.
A victory would send the Eagles into the Class B semifinals and, for Peace and the other seniors, guarantee at least one more week together.
“That would mean a lot to me because we’ve worked so hard,” Peace said. “This group is special to me, and I’m going to remember this for the rest of my life.”
And Peace isn't ready for those memories to end just yet.
“It’s been fun, and I don’t want it to be over yet,” Peace said. “I want to end it off with a state championship.”
