SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Football

Warriors win league opener with fourth-quarter comeback

Joe Naiman

Village News Correspondent

ENCINITAS, Oct. 21, 2001 -- Fallbrook High School's varsity football team won its league opener with a fourth-quarter comeback at La Costa Canyon.

Adam Burke's touchdown run with 4:02 left to play, Ryan Plackemeier's

extra point, and a defense which held the Mavericks scoreless in the

second half gave the Warriors a 7-6 victory over La Costa Canyon.

"What it came down to is our offense moving their feet and just getting

off the ball," said Fallbrook head coach Dennis Houlihan.

The game was scoreless in the first quarter, and the Mavericks had to

settle for three points on their first scoring drive when Fallbrook's

defense held firm on third down and six from the Warrior 17. The

two-yard gain brought up fourth down at the 15, and Luke Liberty kicked a

32-yard field goal to give the Mavericks the game's first points with

4:02 left in the first half.

On Fallbrook's next possession Nick Underseth's pass was intercepted by

Brett Bucher, although a clip on the return gave the Mavericks

possession at their own 36. After three first downs gave the Mavericks

first and goal at the Warrior 10, an incomplete pass was followed by a

facemask call against Fallbrook which gave La Costa Canyon the ball at

the 4-yard-line. That was followed by Fallbrook's defense dropping

Spike Shaw for a four-yard loss, and the third-down play was an

incomplete pass. Liberty kicked a 25-yard field goal to end the half

and give La Costa Canyon a 6-0 lead.

Fallbrook and La Costa Canyon both punted on their first possessions of

the second half, and a second interception by Bucher gave the Mavericks

possession at the Fallbrook 44. The Warriors then dropped running back

Jeff Robinson for a pair of short losses, and a third-down incomplete

pass forced the Mavericks to punt.

Fallbrook was unable to make a first down on the ensuing possession, so

Plackemeier punted 45 yards to the Maverick 25. A sack by Sean Chambers

gave La Costa Canyon third and 16, but Robinson then ran 29 yards and

Shaw followed with a 13-yard gain to bring the ball to the Warrior 39.

On the first play of the next series, the Mavericks were guilty of both

a hold and a clip. Fallbrook took the clipping call, giving the

Mavericks first and 26 at their own 45. Bucher ran a quarterback keeper

for six yards to move the ball back into Fallbrook territory. The

second-down play was a screen pass to Robinson which lost five yards,

but another backfield clip on the Mavericks gave Fallbrook the option of

third and 25 or second and 41. The Warriors opted for the yardage, and

on the next play Robinson was dropped for a two-yard loss to give the

Mavericks third and 43 at their own 28. An incomplete pass sent Liberty

in to punt, and Malik Legree returned the 53-yard punt 15 yards to give

Fallbrook the ball at the Warrior 34.

Morgan ran for 11 yards and then for five yards. Legree gained another

first down with a 19-yard run up the middle. Morgan gained ten more

yards, which after a measurement time out gave Fallbrook first down at

the Maverick 21. Morgan ran for six more yards, and Ryan Jorde gained

three more to set up third down and one at the 12. Kyson Hawkins gained

two yards to give the Warriors first and goal at the 10.

Jeremiah McLeod gained three yards on the next play, and the Mavericks

called a time out. When play resumed, Burke ran to his left until he

found a hole and then scurried forward for a seven-yard touchdown.

"I just saw the hole and I went for it," Burke said.

Burke noted that the speed sweep had been added to the Warriors'

playbook specifically for the game against La Costa Canyon.

Plackemeier's kick for the point after was between the uprights.

"That's the hardest extra point I've ever kicked," he said. "They were

coming hard."

Plackemeier then kicked off to the 5-yard-line, and Collin Erie returned

the ball 28 yards to the 33. On the next play Kyle Young sacked Bucher

for a four-yard loss. After an incomplete pass, Bucher was forced to

scramble before being sacked by Tim Frinell for no gain. Liberty's

41-yard punt went out of bounds at the 30 with 2:25 left.

"Defense played well pretty much the whole night," Young noted. "Just

had to step it up when they needed to."

Fallbrook used up the final two Maverick time outs and gained two more

first downs before Underseth was able to down the ball and run out the

clock.

"They made some good adjustments at the half to slow us down," said La

Costa Canyon head coach Darrin Brown. "We just didn't finish."

Houlihan noted that at halftime his seniors requested that the Warriors

run their 48-30 play, which gives the ball to Morgan to run up the

middle. Morgan, with the help of Young at center and Frinell and Casey

Sovacool at guards, ran the play several times in the second half.

"It's our senior year; we rose to the occasion," said Sovacool. Morgan,

Frinell, and Young are also seniors.

"The line just opened up the holes for me, so I was just running through

them, getting them yards," Morgan said. "The whole team stepped up in

the fourth quarter."

Brown noted that mistakes and penalties cost the Mavericks the game.

"Most of our drives were ended not because of them, because of us," he

said.

"We just didn't get it done offensively," Brown remarked. "You can't

beat a team like that with two field goals."

The Mavericks were 5-1 in their pre-league schedule. "They did a great

job of running five, six yards at a time and keeping the ball out of our

hands," Houlihan noted of his opponent. "They kind of run the same

thing we do and they did a good job of stopping us."

Fallbrook is now 4-3 with three Avocado League games remaining on the

regular-season schedule. Houlihan expects matches similar to the La

Costa Canyon game in the future. "It's always a battle. There are not

going to be any easy games in our league."

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