“FROM THE HUDDLE”

BY COACH BRIAN WALKER       

               It was time for the playoffs last Tuesday night, as our Falcons made the long trip to Adrian to take on the Dragons.  In the Falcons previous three meetings with the Dragons in the playoffs, RRC was 3-0 with section championship wins in 1996 and 2001, and a semi-final win in 1999.  It was a beautiful night for a game, but the Dragons took the opening kickoff and marched it down the field in 10 plays to score.  We had no answer for their power running attack, as they scored on 4 of its 5 first half possessions to take a 27-0 lead into the break on their way to a 36-8 win for the Dragons.  The only stop we got was when Nate Bierman intercepted a pass.  In the first half, our offense only had 3 first downs, so we could not keep their potent attack on the sideline.  In order to win a game like this, the defense needed to make plays, and get some stops, and the offense needed first downs to keep drives alive.  In the second half, the Falcons put 7 plays together, but had to punt.  From their, Adrian marched down the field for another score to make it 34-0.  We were able to put 10 plays together to score the lone TD on a 4 yd run by Ryan Benedict.  The PAT was converted on a pass from Blake Walker to Josh Fredrickson.   Adrian got their final two points when a punt snap went over our JV punter’s head and was tackled for a safety. 

            The Dragons dominated the time of possession by rushing the ball 66 times fo 424 yds.  The Falcons rushed just 29 times for 82 yds.  RRC played most of the game without their leading rusher, Bevern Kedl, as he was hobbled by an ankle sprain from last Wednesday’s game.  Ryan Benedict was the leading rusher for RRC with 11 carries for 32 yds.   Turner Nickel  carried 7 times 10.  In the passing department, Blake Walker connected on 9 of 13 passes for 106 yds.  Ryan Benedict caught 3 passes for 31 yds.  Eric Altermatt grabbed 3 for 27 yds, Josh Fredrickson had 1 for 30 yds, Turner Nickel caught 1 for 11 yds, and Matt Fox hauled in 1 for 7 yds.   Adrian was just 1 of 2 for 9 yds.  On defense, Taylor Mattison led the way with 18 tackles.  Turner Nickel was in on 14 tackles, and Ryan Benedict had 11 tackles.  Josh Rogotzke had a QB sack. 

            It was a tough way to end the season losing like that.  We ended the year playing the top two teams in the section, in losing to Wabasso in our conference final; (the Rabbits are the #1 seed in the section), and Adrian was a good team that finished the season 6-2, with its only losses coming to unbeaten Tracy-Milroy/Balaton and Dawson/Boyd.  In other games in our section, #5 MLBO knocked out #4 Springfield , and #6 MCC beat #3 SWU, and #1 Wabasso rolled over #8 Fulda .  Another season is in the books, and I will salute our seniors in one final “Huddle” next week.  Until then; GO FALCONS!!!