New was the word of the day when the North Forney Falcons took the field against Dallas ISD’s Woodrow Wilson Wildcats in a game played at City Bank Stadium last Friday night. The Falcons were led onto the field by new head coach, Eric Luster. They were sporting a new logo on new uniforms that were worn by an almost completely new team after the departure of a deep senior class that led the team into the second round of the playoffs last season.
Overcoming a shaky start, offensive miscues, and several early penalties, not unexpected from a team with little varsity experience, the Falcons traded scores and possessions with the Wildcats until pulling away late in the game for the 10-point, 39-29, win. While both teams had trouble moving the ball in the first half, that was not a problem in the second, as the teams combined for 51 points in the final two quarters.
Although the head coach, uniforms and players have changed, the Falcons returned just 12 lettermen from last year, one thing has stayed the same: the speed with which the Falcons want to play on offense.
The Wildcats received the opening kickoff and drove to the Falcons 39-yard line before the Falcons’ defense forced an incompletion on fourth down, turning the ball over to the North Forney offense.
It took the Falcons offense less than two minutes to put their first points of the season on the board. A 27-yard scamper by junior running back DeShaun Brundage capped off a seven-play, 61-yard drive that also saw quarterback Nate Billings go 2-for-2 through the air for 24 yards.
“We practice fast, because we want to play fast,” said Coach Luster. “We want to make our opponents uncomfortable. We want to strike fast.”
The Falcons’ balanced attack rolled up 530 total yards, while holding the Wildcats to under 400.
Quarterbacks Billings and Michael Phillips combined to throw for 266 yards and three touchdowns. Neither QB had an interception, but Phillips did fumble twice, while scoring once on the ground. Brundage got the start in the Falcons’ backfield, but it was Damorrea Jones who ended the night as the leading ball carrier, racking up 111 yards on 15 carries. He was followed by Marquel Banks, who carried the ball 14 times for 85 yards. Brundage finished with 65 yards and the one touchdown.
The Wildcats responded to the Falcons’ score with a quick touchdown drive of their own. A personal foul penalty against the Falcons on the kickoff gave Wilson the ball at the Falcons’ 43-yard line. Running back Nathan Barrilleaux took a 2nd-down handoff 34 yards to the Falcons’ eight before quarterback Cam Maguire (13-23, 106 yards, 2 TD) connected with Noah Calhoun to tie the score at the midway point of the first quarter.
Barrilleaux led the Wildcats with 209 yards on 19 carries against a Falcons defense that returned just two starters from last season. Among the losses was defensive lineman Rod Brown, who will be competing for playing time at the University of North Texas this season. The Falcons are starting just four seniors on defense and have two sophomores starting in the defensive backfield.
The scored remained tied until the Wildcats took a 10-7 lead with a 36-yard field goal off the foot of Aiden Webb with 4:06 left in the second quarter. It remained that way as the teams headed into the locker room for halftime.
Although they had made mistakes, Coach Luster’s halftime speech was simple, “Just go out and do what we do in practice. Trust what you have been taught. Just play the game and enjoy it. Do that and we will win.”
That message seemed to resonate.
Playing even faster to open the second half, the Falcons jumped back on top on their first possession when Billings found Tylan Crochet for a touchdown pass. Hit as he released the ball, Billings’ pass floated in Tylan Crochet’s direction. Crochet, seeing the ball hanging in the air, was able to adjust back to it and pull it in at the front corner of the end zone for the 15-yard touchdown. Two plays earlier, it was Jones who almost scored, picking up 34 yards, before a shoestring tackle brought him down at the 16-yard line.
Crochet, who converted from cornerback for this season, topped all Falcons receivers with 190 yards and three touchdowns on 11 catches.
The Wildcats retook the lead with 5:42 left in the third quarter when Maguire hit a wide open Deldrick Smith for a 9-yard touchdown. The drive was aided by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the Falcons on a Wildcats’ field goal attempt. The 38-yard kick was good, but the Wildcats took the points off the board, opting instead to take possession at the Falcons’ 11-yard line. Wilson would score two plays later. The extra point was blocked, and the score remained 16-14.
The Falcons were penalized nine times for 82 yards in the game. While understanding penalties often come with inexperience, and that many were “effort” penalties, Coach Luster says this will be a point of emphasis at practice this week.
North Forney struck back less than 2-1/2 minutes later to take a 21-16 lead. This time it was Phillips who found Crochet on a broken play, from 18 yards out. Phillips, the 6’ 5”, 200 lb. junior, showed his elusiveness on the play, shaking off two Wilson tacklers in the backfield while rolling to his left, before slinging the ball downfield. Seeing his quarterback scrambling, Crochet headed toward the end zone where Phillips found him. Crochet was able to catch the ball over the Wildcats’ defender before falling across the goal line.
Barrilleaux would score the first of his two touchdowns on the first play of the fourth quarter, an 8-yard run, to put the Wildcats up 22-21. On the Wildcats’ next possession, he outran the Falcons defense for a 62-yard score to tie the score at 29.
Sandwiched in-between those two scores, Billings located Crochet down the the seam, hitting him in stride and seeing him split defenders on his way into the end zone for his third score of the game.
The Falcons took the lead for good at 8:08 of the fourth quarter when Phillips, on a fourth and nine from the Wildcats’ 12-yard line, again avoided pressure in the backfield before heading up field and into the end zone for the go ahead score. Calling a timeout before the play, it looked like the Falcons would settle for a go-ahead field goal attempt. Instead, the coaches reversed course and sent the offense back onto the field.
The drive started with Phillips showing nice touch on a 36-yard pass to freshman receiver Ledarious Jones, who had run by his defender down the middle of the field.
The Falcons would get the ball right back as the Wildcats had trouble fielding the short kickoff and, in the ensuing scrum, North recovered the ball at the Wildcats’ 19. A penalty moved the ball back to the 24-yard line before Billings would again find Crochet for a 17-yard pick up. The drive would stall before kicker Collin Randall closed out the scoring with a 25-yard field goal, his first of the season, with 7:10 left in the game. Randall also finished 4-4 on extra points.
Coach Luster gave his team and his coaching staff the credit for the win.
“This was a testament to the kids and the coaches,” he explained. “The coaches had the kids prepared and the kids trusted what the coaches asked of them.”
This week, the Falcons (1-0) will travel to Little Elm to take on the Lobos (1-0) who defeated L.D. Bell, 56-10, last week.
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