Football: Falcons take big hit from Paly

The Falcon football team suffered a 41-9 loss to Palo Alto (3-1 in league) on Oct. 21, a painful defeat that not only dropped the Falcons to 1-3 in league play, but also resulted in a concussion for sophomore running back Davis Berryhill.

The Falcons fell behind 27-0 in the second quarter before reaching the end-zone on a 4-yard run by senior tight end Brandon Gummow, who is now filling in at fullback with the recent injuries to running backs Troy Doles and Jerrick Lee, junior Bryson Yates and now Berryhill. The team did not score again until the fourth quarter when junior kicker Stephen Ruff launched a 36-yard field goal through the uprights.

“This game we learned that playing in this league is going to be tough,” junior lineman Oliver Parr said. “But we have to remember that when we play our game we’re just as good as anyone.”

With much of the team injured, one of the factors to the loss may be a broken spirit that has come from the loss of key players such as Doles, Lee and senior lineman Mitchell Faylor and Sean Walsh.

“I think that the injuries have been a demoralizer for our team,” junior linebacker Austin McMath said. “But everyone has started to play for the injured players instead of themselves so that should help.”

The team’s primary limitation has been its lack of size, an issue that has been exploited of late with the diminished roster of 25 active players.

“We don’t have the same amount of players and ‘big bodies’ that other teams do, so we have to work with that,” Parr said.

The Falcons take on Milpitas (3-1 in league) next at home on Oct. 28. The team figures that the match-up will require a similar approach to playing Palo Alto.

“We’re going to need to go into the Milpitas came with the same mentality, a full effort and high energy,” McMath said. “If we do that, we can be a tough team to beat.”