Abby football cruises past Mustangs, 32-6
The Abbotsford Falcons improved to 2-0 with a win on the road over Melrose-Mindoro this past Friday. Using a dominant run game, the visiting Abbotsford squad cruised to the 32-6 victory over the Mustangs.
The defense came up with a stop for the Falcons on the first series of the game, a deflection of a pass at the line of scrimmage by Marcus VanLuven on third down forcing Melrose-Mindoro to punt the ball away.
Abbotsford then promptly marched down the field, eating six minutes off the clock with a steady diet of run plays. The Falcons worked themselves into a goal-to-goal situation, but looked in danger of coming away empty handed. Facing a fourth down from the eightyard line, Abbotsford turned to running back Christian Fuentes on the edge. The Falcons offensive line managed to seal the edge well enough and Fuentes did the rest at the pylon, taking on a Mustangs defender and pushing across the line to put Abbotsford on the board.
The Falcons once again forced another punt from the Mustangs, though the offense certainly had their work cut out for them, starting with the ball at their own 10 yard line. An errant snap on the first play of the possession nearly cost Abbotsford dearly, but they were able to recover the fumbled ball at their own two yard line. Now faced with a secondand long and the prospect of having to go nearly the entire length of the field, the biggest goal for the Falcons on this drive seemed to be to merely get out of their own endzone. Instead, Abbotsford picked up the first down and once again moved the ball down the field with relative ease. Fuentes once again had the big play for Abbotsford, breaking away around midfield for a 51-yard touchdown run.
On their third drive of the evening, it seemed like the home team would finally put themselves up on the board, driving down into the red zone, converting on several fourth downs in order to do so. However, the Falcons defense held strong with their backs against the wall, forcing another fourth down and pushing the Mustangs to go to the air. A dropped pass in the endzone on the ensuing play gave Abbotsford the ball back with their shutout still intact.
The defense would be tested again quickly, as a fumble gave the ball back to Melrose-Mindoro inside the Abbotsford 20 yard line. Once more, the unit held, with safety JV Castillo knocking the ball loose to force an incompletion on another critical fourth down heave into the endzone, allowing the Falcons to enter halftime with a 12-0 advantage.
Castillo opened the second half with a big kick return, allowing the visitors to start their first drive on the Mustangs 37 yard line. After being pushed back on the first two plays, Castillo found Evan Reis for a 15-yard pass and catch to set up a manageable fourth down. Chase Boller came through on a run around the right side of the line to pick up a first down and keep the drive alive. Irvin Aguilera punched in the ball from a yard out several plays later and the Falcons went up 18-0.
The home team responded before the end of the third quarter, going on a 64-yard drive to score their first touchdown of the evening.
Just before the clock struck zero on the third quarter, a 23-yard kick return by Fuentes gave the Falcons good field position on their next drive. The Falcons ground and pounded their way down the field but eventually faced a fourth down at the Mustang 42 yard line.
Head coach Jake Knapmiller called a time out and drew up a fake punt which netted Castillo a gain of 14 yards and a new set of downs. Facing a third and long later in the drive, the ball was once again placed in Castillo’s hands as he rolled out to the right and hit Fuentes for a 12 yard gain and a first down.
Aguilera capped off the drive with a three-yard touchdown run as the Falcons not only scored, but bled precious time off the clock. After the failed twopoint conversion, the Falcons led 24-6 with 5:40 to play in the game.
On the ensuing Mustang drive, Emilio Escalera tipped a deep pass and Castillo made a diving grab to give the ball back to Abbotsford with 5:12 left in the game.
It didn’t take long for Abbotsford to find the endzone again as three plays after the turnover, Castillo burst off the right side of the line and scampered in for a 42-yard touchdown. Castillo also reeled in the two-point conversion attempt from Grayson Totzke as the Falcons pushed their lead to 32-6.
Melrose-Mindoro made one final push into Falcon territory but surrendered the ball on downs at the Falcon 36-yard line. Abbotsford ran the clock out and moved to 2-0 on the season.
Fuentes led the offensive attack on the ground as he posted 122 of his 136 rushing yards in the first half. Fuentes scored twice on the ground and added a 12-yard reception to his stat line. Castillo picked up the rushing game in the second half as he ran for 82 yards and a touchdown, all of which came in the second half. Castillo added 27 yards passing and 64 return yards for the Falcons.
Aguilera did the dirty work on the ground as he ran nine times for 16 yards and two touchdowns.
AJ Brodhagen and Fuentes led the defense with seven tackles apiece. Fuentes also added a forced fumble on the night while Castillo secured the lone interception. Aguilera, Castillo and Ashton Hammel recorded five tackles while Reis tackled the ball carrier four times for the Falcons.
Abbotsford will host Ladysmith at home on Friday, Sept. 1 starting at 7 p.m. in their next non-conference matchup.
