“FROM THE
HUDDLE”
BY COACH
BRIAN WALKER
The RRC Falcons played host to the #1 ranked team in the state, the Wabasso Rabbits last Wednesday, and the rainy, muddy weather made it a slippery track. In the end, it was the Rabbits coming away with the 34-10 win over our Falcons. The home town Falcons stayed right in the game early on, as RRC answered Wabasso’s first touchdown with a 9 play drive which covered 67 yds. Blake Walker hit Josh Fredrickson on a 7 yd touchdown pass. Walker then hit Eric Altermatt for the two point conversion to tie the game at 8-8 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Rabbits used the big play to gain a lead they would never give up. The first was a 75 yd pass play from Chris Eichten to Michael Rickets for a touchdown. The second touchdown was on a 27 yd pass on a 4th and 12 play. We had them in 3rd and 4th down and long a couple times, but they found a way to make the big offensive play against our defense, which I thought played pretty well, especially against their running game. Wabasso tacked on another touchdown in each of the remaining two quarters, while the Falcons were able to add two points on a safety when a punt snap sailed out of the end zone. They are definitely a fine football team, and will go into the section playoffs 8-0 as the #1 seed.
For the game, the Falcons rushed for 91 yds and passed for another 82 yds. Turner Nickel was the leader on the ground with 13 carries for 46 yds. Ryan Benedict added 31 yds on 6 carries, and Bevern Kedl picked up 23 yds on 13 tries. In the passing department, Blake Walker hit 50% of his passes going 10 of 20 for 82 yds. Ryan Benedict caught 3 for 31 yds, Josh Fredrickson hauled in 3 for 21 yds, Eric Altermatt grabbed 2 for 21 yds, Turner Nickel caught one for 7 yds, and Bevern Kedl had 1 grab for 2 yds. On the defensive side, the Falcons held a strong Rabbit ground game to just 141 yds, with 45 coming on 1 long touchdown run. The Rabbits however passed for 219 yds on 8 of 18 passing. Taylor Mattison led the defense with 13 tackles. Turner Nickel added 8 tackles, Ryan Benedict had 8 tackles and 1 QB sack. Bevern Kedl had 7 tackles with 1 QB sack. Matt Fox and Dillon Imker each had 6 tackles. Eric Altermatt had the lone interception for the Falcons. Considering the poor field conditions, each team had just 1 turnover on the night. The Falcons never fumbled the ball, which became very wet and slippery most of the night.
The loss ended the Falcons 3 game winning streak, but now the second season will begin on Tuesday night, as our Falcons were seeded #7 and will travel to #2 Adrian on Tuesday night to face the (6-2) Dragons. RRC finished out the regular season with a (3-5) record in a very competitive Southern MN Conference. The winner of the Tuesday game will play the winner of #3 SW United/#6 MCC game at the higher seeds home field. In the other half of the bracket, #1 Wabasso will play #8 Fulda, while #4 Springfield will play host to #5 MLBO. We are the only team in our conference in our half of the bracket, while the other side has 3 of the 4 teams form the Southern MN Conference. It is playoff football, and it is a fun time of the season. The last 3 times we have traveled to Adrian for playoff games, the Falcons have come away winners in 1996, 1999, and 2001. Let’s keep that tradition alive and move on in the playoffs. GO FALCONS!!