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Falcons Fight Hard but Lose on the Road in Week one 23-20
Falcons Fight Hard but Lose on the Road in Week one 23-20
Friday night kicked off the 2015 season for the Lutheran East Falcons, and it began in an exciting fashion. Traveling to East Canton to take on the Hornets, the Falcons came out poised and ready to go. In a quick first quarter of action, each offense possessed the ball one time and they made the most of it. East Canton opened up with a 65 yard drive that chewed over 6 minutes off of the clock, while Lutheran East scored following a 75 yard drive. Mark Churchill broke free for a 56 yard run that eventually set up freshman Kaylin Heard for a 2 yard score.
In the second quarter, each team continued to bleed the clock with a variety of passes and runs. Heard was able to find Senior standout Rodney Paradise for a pair of passes, and Churchill continued to work the inside run game. The defense settled into a nice groove and allowed only a 40 yard field goal by the Hornets (10-6). Paradise and freshman Daeshawn Davis led the linebacking core with 13.5 and 8 tackles respectively.
Following halftime, the game continued to go back and forth. East Canton got on the board first and handled the ball for the majority of the third. But in the blink of an eye, Paradise came up huge once again but this time on the defensive side of the ball. He revitalized the team with a 95 yard touchdown off of a fumble recovery by the Hornets. With a 2 point conversion from Heard to Sincere Mills, the game was a one score difference again, 16-14.
With the Falcons defense playing tough in the 4th quarter, it took multiple fourth down attempts by the Hornets to score. The Falcon's resilience led the offense to another touchdown by Heard. The drive was made up of bruising runs by Churchill and quick scampers by Heard- the last 26 yard run was video game like as he broke free of 3 defenders, reversed field and bounced off 2 more for the score. Trailing 23-20, the Falcons defense gave them an opportunity for the final possession, but unfortunately the time ran out on a drive that would have pushed the Falcons to victory.
Despite the disappointing outcome, the team learned a lot about one another and what it takes to win. Being resilient and persevering through adversity will make this group of young men very successful in the near future.