42-41 loss to Mountain View leaves Falcons desperate for another league win

After a 42-41 loss against Mountain View High last Friday, the team’s Senior Night game, the Falcons’ conference record now stands at 1-3 and their overall record at 4-4 as they shift their focus to the final two games of the season. They play at Santa Clara on Oct. 28 and at Los Gatos on Nov. 4.

The Falcons fought hard in their last regular season home game of the season, leading for most of the game until senior quarterback Will Liddle was sidelined with a leg injury, which he suffered during a hard hit late in the game. This injury began the demise of the Falcons.

Though they led by 13 points in the fourth quarter, Mountain View scored two late touchdowns to win by one point. Throughout the game, Mountain View dominated the running game, rushing for 423 yards with a 76-yard touchdown return and exploiting holes in the Falcons’ defense.

Liddle threw four touchdowns for the Falcons, with senior wide receiver Kian Ghelickhani scoring two of those touchdowns. Junior running back Robert Scott also added two touchdowns.

The Mountain View game was their second straight loss. They fell 83-48 to powerful Wilcox in an away game on Oct. 7. Despite fighting hard to score touchdown after touchdown, the Falcons were overwhelmed by the Wilcox offense. The Chargers scored on all but one drive.

“Coming out of Wilcox, we noticed that our offense did what was necessary by putting up 48 points,” junior wide receiver Harrison Fong said. “Usually that should be enough to win, but our defense really struggled to stop the high speed and high-powered Wilcox run.”

Before the lopsided loss against Wilcox, the Falcons were able to finish their Homecoming week strong with a convincing victory against Palo Alto on Sept. 30, finishing with a score of 35-21. They were able to get back on track after a tough 49-14 loss to Milpitas the week before, which ended their two-game win streak.

“During Homecoming, we knew that we couldn’t let our fans, family and alumni down,” Fong said. “We knew that Palo Alto was going to be tough to beat, but all the excitement of Homecoming really pumped the team up and ultimately got us that victory.”

Proud but not satisfied with the success the team has experienced this season, the Falcons are trying to improve their defense schematically and look forward to executing stronger defense for the rest of the season. According to Liddle, the team has learned their assignments “to a tee,” so the key is to apply what they have been working on.

“We are focusing on aggressiveness off the ball, as well as really trying to do what we are coached to do,” Liddle said. “It sounds easy, but it can be quite challenging at times.”

They continue to work hard as they focus on winning their last two games of the season. In order to make CCS, the Falcons will have to win at least one of their two final games of the regular season.

“Right now, we’re just looking at the season one game at the time,” senior wide receiver Rajat Vora said. “When the playoffs come, we will focus on that, but for now, we have business to take care of against Santa Clara and Los Gatos.”