Football: Yards add up for victory

Written by Rocco Valluzzo
Thursday, 08 October 2009 12:17

Numbers told the story for the Joel Barlow High varsity football team in its game against Notre Dame.

The Falcons rushed for 265 yards on 49 carries, an average of more than five yards per carry. They all added up to a 21-14 win under the lights at home on Friday, Oct. 3.

“For us that’s pretty good,” said Barlow head coach Rob Tynan, citing those numbers. “We’re going to win a lot of games if we can do that.”

Defensively the Falcons did not fair badly, either. The Lancers had difficulty moving the ball in the first quarter, netting -20 yards after their first 10 plays from scrimmage and giving up one interception.

“We started off really strong,” said Tynan. “We were shutting them down pretty good.”

Later the Falcons’ offense went to work with their first scoring drive late in the quarter. Eight seconds remained when Tyler Colby found the end zone on a quarterback sneak and then kicked the extra point to give his team a 7-0 lead.

Midway through the second quarter the Falcons’ offense struck again, this time on a drive that ended with George Hebner scoring from 18 yards out. Once again Colby put the ball through the uprights and the Falcons were ahead by two touchdowns.

“We drove the ball all night,” said Tynan. “We had good ball control.”

Notre Dame did respond before the half was done, however. About two minutes later Brody Brandstatter cut loose for a 35-yard touchdown run in one of the few big plays the Falcons would give up that night. The extra point made it a 21-7 game at halftime.

Neither side had any luck finding the end zone in the third quarter but the Falcons did succeed early in the fourth. With 11:06 left to play Sam Neidenbach scored on a two-yard run and Colby kicked his third extra point to give the Falcons some insurance.

It turned out they would need it. The Lancers came up with another big play when Chris Pond completed a 25-yard pass to Collin Finucan and with the extra point the score was final at 21-14.

“We got the victory, which is important,” said Tynan. “We played OK.”

Neidenbach rushed for 112 yards to lead Barlow. Colby had 96.

Defensively, Egan O’Brien had a big day with nine tackles, including one sack. Pat Eaker and Tiago Moore both came up with interceptions.

“You have to get better every week,” said Tynan. “We got better last week.”

The Falcons, now 2-1 overall, visit Immaculate on Saturday for a 3 p.m. game.