Article by Josh Longstreth
Things continued to click for the Freeland Falcons on both sides of the ball in their week three win over Bridgeport. Freeland jumped up early and never looked back as they held a 48-0 lead over the Bearcats at the half. This week they would look to do it against an Alma team who got a rude awakening from John Glenn last week.
The Falcons struck first in this one after a Sam Talaga 1-yard touchdown plunge. A successful two-point try would put Freeland up, 8-0. Alma would bounce back, however. After a Cole O’Boyle 72-yard touchdown run the Panthers would cut the lead to 6-8, Falcons. It wouldn’t be long after before Freeland had their offense rolling again. This time speedster, Ty Fournier, would find some open space on a 15-yard touchdown run. The two-point attempt would then give the Falcons a 16-6 lead. Freeland wasn’t done in the quarter. They would put some more space between them and Alma after Jake Metiva found Eli Murphy on an 18-yard touchdown strike. Freeland had all the momentum after one quarter, 24-6.
There’s not many quarters in a season where the Freeland Falcons aren’t humming on both sides of the ball. The second quarter was no different, yet again. Freeland would grab the first points of the quarter after Talaga got involved again. This time he would pick off a Panthers pass and take it all the way back from 35-yards away. This would make it a 32-6 game and the Falcons weren’t done. Brayden Petre picked up his own 1-yard touchdown run that gave Freeland a 40-6 advantage. Sam Talaga was a man on a mission in the first half of this one. Talaga would find the endzone again for the third time in the half, this time on a 3-yard touchdown run. The Falcons would cruise into the locker room looking up at 48-6 lead.
It would be a new name that would get into the scorebook in the third quarter for Freeland. Parker Tomaszewski would scamper in from 4-yards away to put the Falcons up, 55-6. That’s where things would stand after three quarters of play.
Not as much action in the second half from either offense. The Falcons defense continued to dominate and the offense would take their foot off the pedal a bit. Alma would grab the only score in the final quarter on a Jacoby Dunlap 24-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Couch. It would make things look a little better but nonetheless, Freeland rolls in week five as they take this one 55-13.
For now the third straight week, the Falcons continue to show a championship pedigree. They have been completely dominate in the last twelve quarters of play by outscoring their counterparts in that span, 174-27. It was another methodical approach from Freeland as they never really needed to open up the playbook much on the night.
Alma will fall to 1-4 on the season. Things haven’t been easy on the Panthers as they have been outscored, 20-80, over the last two weeks. They will have a great opportunity to turn things around when they take on Bridgeport next week. The Bearcats played Garber on Friday night.
The Falcons will improve to 5-0 on the year after another big time performance. They will take on Birch Run in week six. The blue and yellow Panthers sit at 4-1 after pulling out a gutsy win over John Glenn.
