Abby defeats Mustangs, improves to 2-0
The Abbotsford Falcons football team won their 2022 home opener in convincing fashion last Friday evening, defeating Melrose-Mindoro 41-0.
In this lopsided matchup, the home team was up 21-0 in the first quarter and had pulled many of their starters by the end of the third. The visiting Mustangs were largely outmatched, mustering limited resistance on defense and being completely overpowered when in possession of the ball.
For the second week in a row, the Falcons’ offense was led by the talents of junior JV Castillo and freshmen Christian Fuentes. Fuentes led the team with 14 carries and 90 yards on the ground, and Castillo added 78 yards on 9 carries, three of which went for touchdowns.
Despite his heroics on the ground, Abbotsford’s first score of the game actually came off of Castillo’s arm. He connected with junior Evan Reis early in the game for a 25-yard touchdown pass to put the Falcons up 7-0 following Irvin Aguilera’s extra point conversion.
An efficient passing game has been a welcome complement to the Falcon’s ground game the last two weeks. After going 5-5 for 89 yards in a week one victory over Loyal, Castillo completed all six of his pass attempts for 74 yards against Melrose-Mindoro.
“JV makes some great plays and understands coverages and who we are trying to put in dilemmas to read,” head coach Jake Knapmiller said of his quarterback’s play in the passing game. “He uses his mobility so well to just get space to throw.”
Castillo wasn’t finished scoring in the first quarter. He would rip off runs of 16 and 24 yards that would end with him in the end zone later in the period, with the Falcons offensive line providing their quarterback with enough blocks for the elusive Castillo to take advantage of. A four-yard, second quarter run by junior Evan Schunk would have him slipping into the end zone for the Falcon’s fourth touchdown of the evening, putting them up 27-0 at halftime.
While the offense looked to be fairly effective, Abbotsford’s defense was the truly dominant force in this game. When all was said and done, the Mustangs ended with one first down and zero yards of total offense. Their 23 yards passing were wiped out by their -23 yards rushing. The Falcons’ front seven gave Melrose-Mindoro more than it could handle, forcing the Mustangs back more often than not.
“Our defense played well; they were very confident in reads and very aggressive,” Knapmiller said. “Our defensive line did a nice job of moving around and causing the QB to scramble. Our coverage was okay, but we can be more disciplined in our techniques.” In addition to holding Melrose-Mindoro’s offense stagnant, the defense also Abby runners prep for season
The Abbotsford Falcons will once again have a girls’ cross country team after going several years without one. While the members of the 2022 team have not run varsity cross country before, many of them have run distance events in high school track, which should help them ease into the sport.
The Abbotsford girls’ team had been combined with Colby in years prior, but a relatively recent change saw the two teams split. Without enough girls to field a team of their own, Abbotsford has not had a high school girls team since the decision.
It took some persuasion from new head coach Dillon Novak to get the team together. Novak is also the distance event coach for the Falcon’s spring track team and so he is familiar with several of the girls and their abilities. He started to ask around to see if there would be interest to start a cross country team in the fall.
“The team really came together by me going around and asking a bunch of them to join,” Novak said with a laugh. “A lot of them were pretty hesitant at first, obviously, with them never having run cross country before and some never having done distance running at all in their past. But before I knew it, we had six or seven girls out and we had enough for a team.”
While some members may not have cross country experience, their time with the Falcons track team will be helpful. Reese Molitor, Ana Flores, Iris Cruz, and Azul Diaz were all a part of the 4x800 relay team that comforced Colby-Abby
with all seven of their runners placing in the top 20. Eau Claire Regis, which placed second at last year’s conference meet, finished fourth in Loyal, despite having three runners finish in the top six.
Oehmichen finished fourth overall with a time of 22:19.0. Sophomore MaKenna Herrmann placed 12th as the second Hornet to cross the finish line, putting in a time of 24:00.7. Fellow sophomore Pearl Feiten followed shortly after, coming in at 24:49.1 for 14th place. Junior Reagan Schraufnagel and sophomore Casey Reynolds finished together, taking 16th and 17th with times of 25:06.2 and 25:06.5 respectively. Junior Payton Roth and freshman Annamarie Schmitt rounded out the top seven varsity runners for Colby, finishing 19th and 20th with times of 25:21.7 and 25:35.3.
It was a solid showing for a team that hopes to claim their fifth straight conference title, having topped most of the competition that they would see there. The season is still young, but the Hornets have certainly set themselves up to be the front runners once again.
The Colby-Abby boys team finished fifth out of 13 teams, with Bloomer taking first.
Junior Max Adams set a new personal best, beating his time that he set the week prior at Pittsville. He finished eighth overall with a time of 18:21.6, which led the Colby-Abby team. Following Adams was junior Jack Schindler, who finished 39th overall with a time of 21:41.6. Ten seconds later, freshman teammate Matthew Sprotte crossed the finish line, taking 40th and posting a time of 21:51.0.
Sophomore Braylon Schoelzel finished as the fourth runner for the co-op team, completing the course in a time of 21:56.3 and placing 42nd overall. Freshman Jack Sheahan placed 48th and posted a time of 22:21.6.
Senior Braxton Smith and junior Carter Roth finished sixth and seventh for Colby, taking 54th and 59th overall and reaching the finish line in 22:45.7 and 23:03.1 respectively.
The Colby girls and Colby/Abby boys cross country teams started their season with the Pittsville Invitational held on August 25. The girls took second place overall out of 11 teams and the boys took sixth out of 12 different schools.
Stratford took first overall for the girls portion of the meet, led by secondplace finisher Kayla Casperson and posting a final total of 27 points based on their top five finishers. The Hornets claim second with a total of 52 points, followed by Marathon’s 72.
Leading the way for Colby was Oehmichen, who took third overall with a time of 23:05.9. This was an improvement over her previous time on the course, where she finished in 24:31.10, but the last time Oehmichen raced in Pittsville was in 2019 during her freshman campaign.
Herrman finished second for the Hornets and sixth overall, posting a final time of 23:54.5 in her first time running the course.
Schraufnagel finished 12th for the Hornets, posting a time of 25:47.2. Reynolds and Feiten finished 15th and 16th with times of 26:22.3 and 26:39.6 respectively, with Feiten cutting almost a minute-and-a-half off her time from last year’s Pittsville meet. Rounding out the top seven were Payton Roth with a time of 27:48.1 and Schmitt with a 28:10.4, which were good enough for 20th and 21st places.
While at many meets, having your entire varsity team finish close to the top 20 would often see you victorious, Stratford boasted even stronger results. Their top five runners finished in the top ten and all seven of their varsity athletes finished in the top 15.
On the boys’ side, Adams posted a personal best en route to a third place finish for the Hornets. His time of 18:52.8 was a minute-and-a-half faster than his time on this course last year and 26 seconds quicker than his previous PR which he had set at the sectional meet last season.
Finishing second for the Hornets was first-time runner junior Joseph Streveler, whose time of 22:34.0 gave him 32nd place. Carter Roth shaved almost a minute off his 2021 Pittsville course time to finish third for the Hornets and 37th overall with a time of 22:47.2 The next three Colby runners all finished within seconds of each other, with Sprotte posting a time of 22:54.0 immediately followed by Jack Sheahan with a time of 22:54.6. Schoelzel was not far behind, coming in a second and a half later with a time of 22:56.1. The trio finished 39th, 41st, and 42nd respectively.
Rounding out the varsity runners was Smith, who netted a 45th place finish with a time of 23:28.3. Smith, a senior, has improved his time each year he has raced at Pittsville.
The teams have a week off before their next meet, which the team will be hosting in Colby on September 10.
2022 ABBY GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY TEAM -Pictured above are the members of the 2022 Abbotsford cross country team. They are, starting in the back row, left to right: coach Dillon Novak, Ana Flores, Iris Cruz, Azalea Atkinson, Reese Molitor, and coach Lexie Balliett. In the front row, left to right are Valeria Aguilera, Azul Diaz, and Asia Atkinson.STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
