Falcons football flies past Loyal

It may have been the Greyhounds who scored first in Friday night’s season opener in Loyal, but it was the visiting Abbotsford Falcons that would leave with the victory. After going down 8-0 in the first quarter, the Falcons scored 33 unanswered, taking the weather-shortened game 33-8.

It was a game that saw both the familiar and perhaps the unexpected take place.

The familiar was junior quarterback JV Castillo dominating the Greyhounds on offense. In a stat line that looks eerily similar to his production in this matchup from last year, Castillo amassed over 150 yards on the ground and ran for three scores.

As for the perhaps unexpected; unlike last year, when the Falcons didn’t even attempt a pass, Castillo was a perfect 5-5 through the air for 89 yards and a touchdown and new addition freshman Christian Fuentes added 117 yards of total offense and scored twice.

Of course, things were always going to look a little different with some key players from last year’s squad having graduated. In the early going of Friday night’s game, it looked as if that might be a turn for the worse.

Loyal was the first to strike, scoring on a 39 yard run by junior running back Louis Nikolai. After converting on their two-point conversion, the Greyhounds had taken an eight point lead.

“We weren’t ready for the speed they played with on offense right away,” head coach Jake Knapmiller said. “It took us a while to react properly. Part of it was just being disciplined defensively.”

However, it would be all Abbotsford from that point on.

The Falcons followed up Loyal’s scoring drive with a long offensive set of their own, running over 15 plays and converting two fourth downs before eventually punching into the end zone on a seven yard rush. The long drive seemed to wear down the Greyhounds a bit and Abbotsford added rushing touchdowns of five and 16 yards in the second quarter while holding the Greyhounds from doing much offensively. A touchdown pass of 15 yards in the third quarter and an eight yard run for a touchdown in the fourth would put Abbotsford up 33-8 before the game was eventually called with nine minutes left due to inclement weather.

Outside of the initial scoring drive for Loyal, Abbotsford was in control for most of the game, especially once their offense started to click.

One could certainly look at an offense that produced 368 yards and five touchdowns as being quite impressive, but it’s the third and fourth down conversion rates that truly amaze. The Falcons were 8-11 on third downs and a perfect 3-3 on the fourth downs where they failed to move the chains on third down. The Falcons had 20 first downs overall, showcasing how they were able to keep the ball moving throughout the game.

Castillo and Fuentes were the main components of the ground game, with 150 and 97 yards respectively, though sophomore Emilio Escalera added 55 yards and senior Jake Hirsch contributing 30 yards, giving the Falcons a well rounded approach on the ground.

“Our offensive line did a very good job with double teams and getting out and running in space,” Knapmiller said of his rushing attack. “Now we need to work on finding work in space when we get there, but youth and inexperience is something we knew we had. Hirsch and [junior] Evan Reis did a nice job blocking on sweep in the second half along with [senior] Brandon Diedrich on our right side setting the edge. Escalera and Hirsch got some solid yardage on the few carries they had, and showed no drop off from the other running backs.”

“We have lots of options and Christian unexpectedly had to handle a really big workload with some injuries and guys out for the game,” Knapmiller added. “Christian allows us to move some pieces around and get other guys at positions that might help us even more. We were able to get the edge on Loyal but also had some really effective early runs up the middle with Christian which held the defense in check. Our off tackle plays struggled a bit partly due to blocking, but the front four of Loyal was their strength as well. Our outside run game and pass game really picked us up.”

Diedrich led the way in the aforementioned pass game, recording two receptions for 50 yards. Fuentes was also part of the passing attack, catching two passes for 20 yards and a touchdown, and Reis had one for 15.

“We really want to be efficient with our passing game and not concern ourselves with the home run unless it’s there,” Knapmiller stated. “We did get JV out of the pocket to throw, giving him the option to run or pass, and that will be his strength this year.”

The defense also played solid for much of the evening. Despite missing Evan Schunk and Noah Schraufnagel in their linebacking corps, they held Loyal to just seven first downs all evening and only gave up 23 yards through the air. The 128 yards Loyal gained on the ground could perhaps leave something to be desired, but considering 74 of those yards came on two plays, the aforementioned 39-yard touchdown by Nikolai and a 35-yard scramble by senior Sullivin Hanson, and one might get a better picture of how well the defense was able to keep the Greyhound run game in check over the course of the game.

“They had a couple of nice senior lineman who gave us problems on one side of the ball,” Knapmiller said. “We struggled to get off of blocks. Overall we didn’t have a standout defensive player, but we ran really well and minimized big plays after the first few.”

Abbotsford has its home opener next up on its schedule. The Falcons are hosting Melrose-Mindoro this coming Friday, with a game time slotted for 7 p.m. Melrose-Mindoro was bested by Bangor 56-0 at home last week, giving up 384 yards on the ground to their opponents. Last year, Abbotsford won this match-up by a score of 13-6.

OFFENSIVE THREATS -Christian Fuentes (5) and JV Castillo (2), above, were the main weapons for an offense that also featured a catch from Evan Reis (10), left.STAFF PHOTOS/DEAN LESAR