Traveling to the west side of the metroplex last Friday night, the North Forney Falcons (3-0) again raced out to a big lead, and then withstood a furious comeback, in defeating 5A-D1 Fort Worth Brewer (1-2), 49-37. It was the third time in as many games that the Falcons have held an early lead of at least 17 points.
The game got off to an odd start for the Falcons as the team was not notified that the national anthem was about to begin and were left scrambling to assemble as the anthem played. For a team that emphasizes discipline and staying on schedule, this might have presented a challenge. Instead, the Falcons paired two defensive 3-and-outs with two scoring drives to take a 14-0 lead before the midway point of the first quarter.
As they did the week before against Little Elm, the Falcons again often faced 6-8 men between the tackles. However, that did not stop them from rolling up 365 yards on the ground against another aggressive, hard hitting defense.
“I am really proud of the effort, especially the physicality of the offensive line,” Offensive Coordinator Mike Ludlow said after the game. “(Brewer) ran a lot of stunts, and the line was able to pick them up. When you average over nine yards each time you snap the ball, against a team that physical, you are doing something right.”
Ty Collins, the secondleading 5A rusher in the DFW area coming into the game, averaged almost 12 yards per carry, finishing the night with 248 rushing yards on 21 carries. He had nearly half of the Falcons’ 509 total yards against the Bears.
Collins ended with four rushing touchdowns, including a 10-yard run on North’s first possession and a patient 36-yard run that started a string of three straight scoring drives that pushed the Falcons’ lead to 35-10 at the half. His hardfought 33-yard run, pushing through a scrum at the line and racing out the back of the pile on his way to the end zone, stemmed a Brewer rally that had seen them pull to within 12 points, 42-30, with three minutes left in the game.
Along with the offensive line, Coach Ludlow also pointed to his receivers and sophomore “pipe wrench,” Brandon Murphy, getting his first varsity start, as the reason for the success on the ground.
“The kids played their guts out. The blocking was crazy. Our receivers stayed on blocks longer than you would normally see. Kam (Allen) only had one catch, but he was great off the ball, and Brandon Murphy had an unbelievable game.”
If Collins was the thunder for North, Jermaine Oakley was the lightning, racking up 90 yards on 7 carries, in his first action of the 2020 season. The speedy Oakley presents a change of pace for which defenses will have to plan, and his effectiveness as a runner provides Falcons’ coaches with some flexibility in the run game. Akanimo “Nimo” Asuquo and DeMarcus Kirk had been spelling Collins in the first two games, but both also start on the North Forney defense.
“We really didn’t know what we had with Oakley,” explained Coach Ludlow. “He is really quick side-to-side.”
Seeing his first playing time since being injured in the second quarter of their week one win over Lone Star, Falcons’ quarterback Jacob Acuna was effective in leading North to scores on their first two drives of the game, and the big halftime lead. However, Acuna limped off the field and was replaced by Landon Heath after scrambling for 14 yards midway through the third quarter. He finished 10-of-19 for 144 yards and two touchdowns, spreading the ball to six different Falcons’ receivers, and added 32 yards and one touchdown running the ball.
Collyn Shipley led the Falcons with two catches for 93 yards and an early 68-yard touchdown reception that gave North Forney a 14-0 lead with 7:37 left in the first quarter.
While they were able to bottle up the Bears’ leading ball carrier, Montrail Cushionberry (12 carries for 15 yards), who would eventually leave the game with an apparent injury, the Falcons’ defense gave up 318 rushing yards to Brewer. Backup quarterback, Jaylen Spriggs, who replaced starting QB BJ Williams (4-12, 34 yards, 1 INT; 66 yards rushing) with just over eight minutes left in the third quarter carried the ball 12 times for 101 yards. Spriggs also had 34 passing yards and one touchdown, going 1-for-6 through the air.
As he has said all season, Defensive Coordinator Ryan Porter reiterated that things are never as good as they seem, and they are never as bad as they seem.
The 386 total yards gained by the Bears was almost 150 more than the defense had given up in their two previous games. Jeremy Bailey had an interception for the Falcons and, for the third time in as many games this season, North Forney’s defense forced a quarterback fumble.
“We had some mistakes, but we believe what we saw is easily fixable,” said Coach Porter.
The Falcons held a 42-10 lead after three quarters but saw that slowly erode beginning with a 15-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth. Spriggs weaved his way through the Falcons’ defense and into the end zone on the play.
With 7:44 left in the game, Brewer pulled with 18 points, 42-24, as Tyrelle Davis (13-75, 1 TD) capped a six play, 64-yard drive with a one-yard plunge into the end zone. A North Forney punt, returned to the Falcons’ 33-yard line, set the Bears up for another score, a Spriggs-to-Wil Intfen (2-44, 1 TD) connection on the first play from scrimmage. That closed the gap to 42-30, with 4:21 left in the game.
Following the Collins score, the Bears closed the scoring with a 1-yard dive into the end zone by Gabe Terry-Stowe (6-56, 1 TD) with 26 seconds left in the game.
“What’s disappointing is that we seem to relax with a big lead, instead of finishing,” said Coach Porter following the win. “However, every time we go out on the field, we learn some things about us. We will get better because of it.”
The Falcons will look to improve to 4-0 on the season, and 1-0 in district as they take on their cross-town rivals, Forney, in the Unity Bowl tomorrow night. Forney comes into the game winless after their 49-10 defeat to Texas High in Texarkana last week. North has won two of the last three meetings with Forney, including last year’s 57-10 win.
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