***Article by Josh Longstreth
Over the course of six weeks, there haven’t been many better teams than Freeland. The Falcons have been dominate in most of their games this season and it’s a group that gets better every week. They showed it again in last week in a big win over a solid Birch Run team. Heading into a big showdown with the Frankenmuth Eagles in week seven, Freeland would be in for a bit of a rude awakening.
Freeland would get on the board first in this one after an eight play drive that was capped off on a 1-yard touchdown run from Eli Murphy. This gave the Falcons an early 7-0 advantage after a good PAT attempt. Frankenmuth would bounce right back, however. Quarterback Jack Rich found some daylight on a 57-yard rushing touchdown. After one it looked like we had a battle awaiting as it was a 7-7 game headed into the second quarter.
The Eagles grabbed their first lead of the game shortly into the quarter. Hunter Bernthal pounced into the endzone on a 5-yard rushing touchdown that would give Frankenmuth a 14-7 lead. Not long after the Eagles would grab even more momentum. Griffin Barker found the endzone on a 5-yard run. This would make it a 21-7 Frankenmuth advantage to that point. The Eagles weren’t done yet as they capped of a big quarter on an Aiden Labissoniere 30-yard field goal. Everything was going the direction of Frankenmuth as they went into the locker room with a 24-7 lead.
Things wouldn’t start well for Freeland in the second half. The Eagles offense would set up shop at the Falcons one yard line after a costly Freeland turnover. Barker would pay it off on his second rushing touchdown of the night. Undefeated Freeland would find themselves looking up at a 7-31 deficit heading into the final quarter.
Frankenmuth continued the statement first in the fourth when Rich grabbed another rushing touchdown, this one from 27-yards out. This might have been the true back breaker as it then gave the Eagles a 38-7 lead to that point. The Falcons would finally put some points on the board in the half. Jake Metiva capped off the drive with a 2-yard run. It wouldn’t be enough, Frankenmuth goes on to take down Freeland, 38-13.
The Eagles will move to 6-1 on the season. This one seemed to go their way for most of the night as they dominated both lines of scrimmage. They’ll have a chance to grab their seventh win in a row when they take on Bridgeport next week. The Bearcats fell to John Glenn in a big way in week seven and have now lost six in a row. Frankenmuth looks like the real deal again this season as they could be run store for another deep playoff run in 2023.
Freeland will fall to 6-1 on the year. This one comes as a bit of a surprise for them as they have been nothing but dominate most weeks. They will head back home in week eight to take on aforementioned John Glenn. The Falcons still show the signs of a team that could make a deep run in the playoffs but will need to clean up some areas before that. Freeland would give the ball up four times on the night (3 fumbles, 1 interception). It proved costly in their first loss of the season.
