9U SILVER SHOWS STRONG EFFORT
Nineteen new players (one returner) embarked on their Falcon Football career Sunday.
On the backdrop of a warm, sun-splashed afternoon, the young Falcons traveled to Naperville to take on the Saints. It was a tightly contested affair.
The Falcons’ offense — led by Nate Morris, Will Jones, Luke Hanson, AJ Siepker, Dario Rendina, Grant Garber, Keegan McCoskey and Harrison Kuzniar — blocked and ran hard all day. Teddy Ouimette scampered to the outside and was a shoelace away from giving the Falcons the lead, but alas the shoelace derailed the Falcons. Alex Demetis assisted in keeping the Saints at bay by punting them deep into their own territory.
The Falcon defense held tough throughout the first half. Billy Jaqua, John Dunn, Rocco Mateja, Jacob Stanton, Cooper Milburn, Jasper Maggio, Max Breton, Mas Buttitta, Carter Pearson and JP Rago swarmed to the ball all day. The teams went into the half tied 0-0.
Coach Dunn’s rousing halftime speech could not will the Falcons to victory, however. Naperville finally broke through late in the third quarter to give the Saints a 6-0 lead. Try as they might, the Falcons could not answer as a last-ditch pass attempt fell incomplete, ending the game 6-0 Naperville.
Even though the result was less than ideal, the coaching staff could not be happier with the effort on Sunday and the past four weeks of practice. Brighter days are ahead this year and the years to come for these boys.
9U GOLD WINS FIRST CONTEST
It had been 28 days since the 9U Gold team gathered for the first time to kick off the 2022 football season. With only three players returning from last year’s team (Ben Murphy, Nate Thangamani and Joey Hillegass), Coach Nate Brown knew he had his work cut out for him to get the Falcons prepared for their first game.
Well prepared they were, as they came out of the gates quickly with a 20-yard touchdown run by Marcello Salamone. That was quickly followed up by a 60-yard touchdown run by Topher Allanson.
The defense also was able to help close out a strong first half by holding Tri-City scoreless. The defense was anchored in the first half by strong play from Luke Gray, Marco Oliverio, Kellen Brown and Reid Jacobsen. Tri City was able to cut into the deficit making it 12-6. However, quarterback Soren Carlson made a perfect pitch under pressure to Allanson and the offensive line, led by Carter Cox, Miles Perucki, Lukasz Gewont and Jacob Zager, which provided strong blocking to free up Allanson for another long touchdown run. Thangamani, Hillegass, Sebastian Christensen, Carson Malinas and Lucas Zayed were able to hold Tri-City to close out the game and get the Gold team its first W of the season with a score of 18-6.
10U SILVER WINS FIRST CONTEST
The Falcons came into Palatine stadium ready and hungry from weeks of preseason preparation and it showed, as they walked away with a 19-6 victory.
On the Falcons’ first drive, Jaxon Uthe broke the third play from scrimmage for a 60 yard breakaway to the endzone. The blocking on the line was powered by a stout group of blockers including Bennet Zeikus, Alex Vivanco, Rayan Sheikh, Augie Seraphin and Ryan Swieton.
The Falcons’ second drive was powered by a collective running attack of Uthe, Leo Yanklowitz and Gavin Shuler. These guys were gobbling up chunks of yardage that led to another touchdown from the 5 yard line by Shuler, again powered by the offensive line and tight end Faiz Moosani and Lucas Herrick.
The defense was equally impressive, shutting down a dynamic passing and running attack from the Palatine Panthers. Shane Behar, Brady Madden, Nick Carabona and the rest of the Falcons’ defense swarmed to the ball and did not allow Palatine to get any momentum all day. Uthe also returned an interception for a touchdown early in the third quarter. The game was capped off by Jonathon Trombley intercepting the Panthers’ last pass attempt to seal the victory.
The Falcons are set to take on the Bartlett Raiders this week at Hinsdale High School’s Dickinson Field at 11:30 a.m. Sunday. Come on out and root them on
VARSITY RED SHUTS OUT TRI CITY GREEN
The Falcons Varsity Red team opened its season on the road at Tri City Green in Mooseheart Stadium in North Aurora. The Falcons shook off early season jitters on the first possession. Owen Sunderson would complete his first pass of the season on the first play for a 10-yard gain to Luke McLaughlin. Two plays later Sunderson would keep the ball on an option play to the right side and scamper 45 yards to pay dirt. The following PAT try would be good and The Falcons would take an early lead 7-0 and never look back.
The ensuing kick off would witness the biggest hit of the game. Left alone on an island to make what might have been a touchdown-saving tackle, Tom Golon leveled the Tri City return man, drawing cheers from his teammates and coaches that might have been heard back in Hinsdale.
The Falcons’ defense would be stalwart all day. Defensive ends Tommy Riordan and Luke Zajicek along with defensive tackles Mutaz Alshahrour and Jonathon Fausto would dominate the line of scrimmage. Alshahrour would force a fumble that was recovered by linebacker John Breton giving the Falcons another early possession. Hinsdale would move the ball down the field with carries by Cam Linn, Beau Knapp and John Breton. On a third-and-long situation after a few penalties had stalled the Falcon’s drive, Sunderson would loft a ball high into the end zone to a leaping Brian Willoughby who came down with a highlight reel worthy grab over two defenders for the team’s team touchdown of the day. Even the ref would say, “He Moss’d that!” Another successful PAT try would make the score 14-0 going into the half.
The second half would look much like the first. The kids from Hinsdale would dominate both sides of the ball. The Falcons did turn the ball over once but they never punted and managed to grind the clock away on Tri City. Offensive linemen Michael Sharples, Jimmy Satchwell and Zaher Akbar would help tailback Cam Linn blast off several runs of five to eight yards, moving the chains and keeping the ball out of the hands of Tri City. The highlight of the second half was when Sunderson, now playing free safety, picked off a downfield pass from the Tri City quarterback, dodged a few would-be tacklers and sprinted up the sideline some 70 yards for a “pick 6.” The score was 21-0 and that’s how the game would end.
The Varsity Red squad will face Lemont at 1 p.m. Sunday on Dickinson Field at Hinsdale Central.
VARSITY GOLD COASTS TO WIN
The Varsity D1 Gold Hinsdale Falcons started the opening game of the season in the right direction with a perfectly executed running play with some strong upfront blocking by Andrew Zeiss and Luke Injaychok and nifty moves by Charles Calhoun for a 38- yard touchdown. The two point kick by Orestas Bockus led to an 8-0 Falcons score mid-first quarter. The Falcons “Lock down” defense led by Colin Palm, Max Judge, Charlie Miller, Chris Kasky, Matthew Tomfohrde and Jupiter Pohlenz played well all day keeping the Bartlett Raiders to only 70 yards of total offense for the day!
Early second quarter, James Skokna had an explosive 30-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0. On the next drive, with 7 seconds left in the half, Brian O’Malley threw a perfect 33-yard touchdown strike to a striding Chris Kasky to make the score 22-0 at the half.
The Falcons coasted to a 34-0 victory to start off a very promising 2022 campaign.
