Football succeeds despite injury-plagued season

The 2-2 Falcons looked strong as they dominated their past two games against Westmont and Los Altos. The offense moved the ball well and the defense played its part by forcing many turnovers, but several injuries have forced the team to shuffle the lineup.

Senior linebacker Alex Youngs suffered a mild concussion during the game against Alisal and hopes to get back into the action as soon as possible.

“When I was carrying the ball in the game,” said Youngs, “I put my head down instead of lowering my shoulder. The next thing I know, I’m on the ground feeling dizzy.”

Youngs, the starting fullback and linebacker before the concussion, feels that injuries have affected the team greatly.

“Some practices, we don’t have enough players to practice, so the coaches pretend they are players,” said Youngs. “Imagine how good our team would be if we didn’t have any injuries.”

Another starting player, junior safety Trevor Teerlink, broke his arm while roller blading with some friends.

“Roller blading was a stupid way to get hurt and I regret it,” said Teerlink. “Because of my injury, many players had to switch positions. Quarterback Michael Guercio had to play safety for me. No coach ever wants their quarterback to play defense in case the quarterback gets hurt.”

Though the Falcons have many injuries, head coach Tim Lugo feels that the team has stepped up in the last couple of weeks.

“The injuries hurt our depth chart greatly,” said Lugo. “We only have 30 players, so it is hard to give the players who aren’t injured a rest and get them off of the field. Luckily, we will be getting back most of our injured players soon, just in time for the toughest part of our schedule.”

Lugo promoted sophomore fullback and linebacker Greg Johnson from JV to varsity to help combat the injuries.
“Johnson has played very well for us,” said Lugo. “He filled in a huge hole in our team made because of injuries. He fit in just as if he had been there the whole year.”

Still plagued with injuries, the Falcons played Mountain View on Oct. 10, dominating the Spartans 56-14. The Falcons hope to carry their success to their upcoming games.

On Oct. 3, the Falcons opened their division play with a 48-13 win over the Los Altos Eagles. The Falcons’ Wing T offense set them up for big running plays that led to their Homecoming victory.

“We executed our plays very well on offense,” said senior running back Mat Spencer, who scored two touchdowns in the game. “All the players were comfortable with the new offensive scheme, so we turned the ball over less than we did in our previous games, which was vital to our success.”

The Falcon was unable to cover the Palo Alto game due to printing deadlines. The Falcons will be playing the Los Gatos Wildcats in their third division game at 7:30 p.m. next week.