lar football player and has ….

lar football player and has the potential to be one of the best in Abbotsford. He had big contributions tonight, and that’s huge to get, especially from a freshman.”

The Falcons missed the PAT, but their defense continued to swarm Thorp, and Abbotsford went into the fourth quarter with a 20-7 lead.

Thorp got the ball back, but Aguilera delivered a huge sack for a huge loss of yards, and the Cardinals were forced to punt deep in their own territory. The punt failed to go very far, and the Falcons continued to pound the rock.

Castillo picked his way up the sideline for another long run that set the Falcons up for another potential score, but a penalty and several tackles for loss made it 4th and 11. Draper hauled in a reception from Soyk, but was stopped just shy of the first down marker, and the Cardinals took over on their own four yard line.

The last time Thorp was there, it resulted in a touchdown, but there would be no repeat. Thorp picked up a first down on a penalty, but with the third quarter coming to a close, and down 20-7 after three, the Cardinals were running out of time.

Castillo made a great open field tackle on third and long to start the fourth quarter that brought up fourth and long, and Thorp shanked the punt, giving Abby great field position on the Cardinals’ 47yard line.

Carpenter snapped off a big run that put Abby in the Red Zone, but Abby turned the ball over on downs.

Thorp’s hopes for a score were shortlived, and after failing to get their ground game going, Thorp turned to the air, but Aguilera picked the ball off and rumbled deep into Cardinal territory, giving Abby another crack at the end zone.

“It helped us a lot, getting that pressure on their quarterback,” Angel Diaz said about the turnovers. “Hunter Soyk and Martin Aguilera put pressure on him and held them back.”

On the first play of the drive, Soyk called his own number, and got more great blocks up field as he rumbled and stumbled his way into the end zone for the Falcons’ final score of the night.

Aguilera’s PAT made it 27-7 with 8:16 to play. Thorp continued to air the ball out, but turned the ball over on downs and from there the Falcons subbed in several JV players. Preston Bunkleman rattled off a 25-yard play late in the fourth quarter, and senior Ryan Gunderson made a few carries for positive yardage to end the game, and with it, the season.

The Falcons finished with 337 yards of total offense. Soyk finished with five of seven for passing, with 85-yards and one touchdown. Carpenter hauled in four passes for 75-yards and the score.

Draper had one reception for ten yards. Castillo’s break out night featured 90-yards on 14 carries and one score. Soyk had 13 carries for 94-yards and two rushing touchdowns. Carpenter added 38 rushing yards, Bunkleman had one carry for 25-yards and Ryan Gunderson added five yards on the ground.

For the seniors, while the season did not go as planned, to end the year on a victory, and lay claim as the first Abbotsford squad to do so, was the perfect end to four years in a Falcons uniform.

“It feels great,” Diaz said. “We made history, the first time in Abbotsford to finish the season on a win.”

Abbotsford bids goodbye to over a dozen seniors, but based on the play of thos year’s freshman and sophomores, many of those seniors feel the program will be good to go in 2021.

“I think Abbotsford is in a good place, it’s just up to them to work for it,” senior lineman Keith Kalepp said. “Nothing comes easy, you gotta take some punches as you go. We did that this year, and we got knocked down. Hopefully we showed the grit inside of us, that we got back up and kept going.”