For the first time in five games, the big plays favored South Whidbey Friday night.
Just in time for the school’s homecoming game, the Falcon football team found some holes, found a rhythm and found every advantage they could to beat Granite Falls 46-14 in front of a capacity Waterman Field crowd.
The game also marked the team’s most complete offensive outing, with the team putting up 123 yards of passing and over 400 yards of total offense. At the same time, it may have been the team’s defensive squad that ensured the victory as it shut down everything the Tigers tried and put points on the board.
While much of the scoring would have to wait until the second half, the Falcons spent the first part of the game picking the Tigers apart. Against the Tigers’ passing game, the Falcons had almost as many interceptions as the South Whidbey offense had receptions. Junior Michael Lodell, while in the midst of a 230-yard rushing performance, made two picks against Granite Falls. Also grabbing the ball out of the air were junior Matt Parrick and senior Frank Jack Nick. Parrick turned his interception into points on the board. Making his grab as the fourth quarter wound down, he rambled untouched into the end zone to give his team its final touchdown on the night.
At the same time, South Whidbey took advantage of the Tigers’ unsteady nerves and hands, recovering one fumble and sacking Granite Falls’ quarterback twice. Doing the damage were juniors Dan Eining and Jason Gilberts.
Offensive scoring came via three players, Lodell, senior quarterback Travis Tornga, and senior Conley White. In addition to his 250 yards of total gains on the field, Lodell rushed two touchdowns for the Falcons. Tornga, in the finest passing performance of his career, threw two touchdowns while going 8-of-17 for 123 yards. He also engineered four two-point conversions, one each taken into the end zone by junior Dane Guetlin, senior Nick Plastino, Gilberts and himself.
Opening the holes was an offensive line that Falcon head coach Mark Hodson credited for building the foundation of the team’s second North Cascades Conference victory of the season. Senior lineman Ben Harris said he and his compatriots had little trouble grabbing the Tigers defense by the tail.
“It seemed like we were able to pick up on the blitzes,” he said.
Frank Jack Nick, who also plays on the line in addition to his defensive duties, knew why.
“They didn’t hide it at all,” he said of the Granite Falls defensive strategy.
Having crawled out of the NCC cellar with the win, the 2-4 Falcons travel to Sultan Friday to try to break their tie in the standings with the 2-4 Turks. They both trail 7-0 NCC leader Meridian.
