Going into the game against the powerhouse Wilcox Chargers on Nov. 15, the Falcon players were confident that they could get a win in order to make the CCS playoffs. However, the strength of the Wilcox rushing attack was too much for the Falcons, who lost 47-20, thereby ending their season.
The Falcon offense moved the ball well on the Charger defense all night but was unable to put the ball in the end zone to end drives. In the first half, the Falcons had the ball in Charger territory three times, twice inside the 10 yard line, but were unable to get any points.
With the loss to Wilcox, the football season is now over. Even though the team wasn’t able to go to CCS like last year, the players have no regrets about the season.
“Football is more than just a game,” senior linebacker/running back Jacob Camp said. “It's about more than winning and losing. It's about the people you play with, the coaches who coach you and the brotherhood that is created because of the overwhelming desire to be something great.”
The season had its high and low moments, and with a tougher pre-season schedule, the Falcons were unable to secure wins early on in the season. On Homecoming night, senior quarterback Jonathan Walters sat out with a concussion and the Falcons lost to a beatable Mountain View team.
This year, the offense was not as prolific as last year’s because other teams had much more time to prepare after seeing the offense last year. The screen game was not as efficient this year with the graduation of last year’s league MVP Kyle Dozier. This year, even though Walters did not match his unbelievable stats from last year, he still had a good year passing for 2,266 yards and 20 touchdowns.
The offensive line showed improvement this season, with the addition of junior tackle Austin Bakke, sophomore guard Adam Camp and junior guard Teddy Rothschild. The defense played well for the most part but had to be on the field for a long time due to the offensive inefficiency.
This year, 28 seniors will graduate and leave the team, giving underclassmen and current juniors the chance to step up and fill the roles of the current seniors. Junior wide receiver/corner Joey Medeiros and junior running back/free safety
Ken Wu will look to lead the team on both sides of the ball.
Senior wide receivers Travis Stokes and Grant Faylor both had good seasons. Stokes caught 11 touchdowns during the season, while Faylor had four touchdowns on the season, with two against Santa Clara and two against Wilcox.
In the end, although the season is over for the Falcons, both the players and coaches worked extremely hard to have a very memorable season.
“Some may look at this season from an outside perspective and say we did not accomplish our goal of being great this year,” Jacob said. “However, I simply respond by saying I can speak for my team when I say that we would not trade this season for anything.”