Falcons crush Pacelli, Knapmiller earns 100th win

Irvin Aguilera, Chase Boller and Irvin Davila had impressive performances on both sides of the ball, Jaxon Ploeckelman and Jesus Reyes both averaged over 11 yards per carry and the Abbotsford Falcons overpowered the visiting Pacelli Cardinals 42-18 in their homecoming victory last Friday. The win was also a milestone for head coach Jake Knapmiller, who reached 100 career victories as the Falcons’ head coach.

Abbotsford made sure there was little doubt as to the outcome of the contest between the two Marawood/CWC-Small, completely controlling the first half of the game on both offense and defense. The Falcons racked up 341 yards rushing, most of which came in the opening 24 minutes, and scored three touchdowns in each of the first two quarters. Meanwhile, Pacelli failed to get much going against Abbotsford’s starting defense, surrendering three turnovers and finding themselves held scoreless in the first half.

Aguilera and Davila combined for the Falcons first big play of the contest. With Pacelli facing a third and long, Davila and Josue Tzintzun put pressure on Cardinals quarterback Jake Williams in his own end zone, causing him to throw up the ball in desperation. Aguilera snagged the ball at the goal line and easily turned the pick into a touchdown for Abbotsford, putting them up 6-0.

A 37-yard run for Aguilera on the Falcons next drive set up a 21-yard touchdown run for Boller and the ensuing extra point gave the home team a 13-0 advantage. The Cardinals answered with a long run of their own to get into Abbotsford territory for the first time, but a high snap put the ball on the ground and Aguilera once again came up big for the Falcons’ defense, collecting the fumble at Abbotsford’s 35-yard line and ending the Pacelli threat.

Boller had another impressive run, breaking away for 50 yards to bring the Falcons inside the redzone. Jesus Reyes plowed his way to the one yard line and then capped the drive off on the next play by finding the end zone with a little over a minute left in the first quarter.

Boller came up with the Falcons’ third forced turnover of the game on the first play of the second quarter, picking off an errant throw by Williams to give Abbotsford the ball in Pacelli territory. A 28-yard run up the middle by Ploeckelman set up an eventual two-yard touchdown for Aguilera. After forcing another three-and-out for the Cardinals, it only took two plays for Abbotsford to go the distance, this time scoring on a run by Ploeckelman. Aguilera found Davila in the flats on the ensuing two-point conversion and the Falcons put themselves up 35-0. Carter Cihlar found Davila again in the end zone, this time for a touchdown, a few minutes later for the Falcons final score of the evening.

Desperate to get some sort of spark heading into the half, the Cardinals opted to go for it on fourth and five deep in their own territory. Davila made sure that the shutout would remain intact heading into the locker rooms by sacking Williams for a 10 yard loss.

The Falcons starters did not see the field in the second half, and while Pacelli managed to put up three touchdowns in the final 24 minutes, Abbotsford’s lead was never in question.

Milestone Win

Friday’s homecoming victory was extra sweet as it gave long-time head coach Jake Knapmiller his 100th win with the program. Knapmiller began his time as the Falcons’ head coach in 2011 and has brought the program a long way since their 0-9 record in that first season.

Knapmiller played football for five years at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and once he graduated, he taught and coached at Lancaster under Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame coach John Hoch, where he was part of the Flying Arrows seventh state championship. He then moved to Abbotsford and coached as an assistant to Eric Elmhorst from 2008 to 2010 before taking over head coaching duties in 2011.

“We were 0-and-9 and started seven freshmen my first year,” Knapmiller noted. “It was tough, but expected with the youth we had. A few kids quit and others thought about it but the core of the freshman that played, stuck with it and believed it would get better.”

While things were still difficult in the coming years, there were obvious signs of improvement. Though they still had losing records in 2012 and 2013, Abbotsford made the playoffs with a final 8-3 record in 2014.

“There was a group of young men that had started to believe that the work would pay off and really loved the game and the work that went into it,” Knapmiller said. “Garrett Rau, our [current] defensive coordinator and basketball coach, was a part of that group. It isn't easy for a high school boy to go through a difficult season and believe in themselves and the process and trust it. Some of the things we talked with those boys about were, playing multiple sports, speed training and becoming involved in track, which I became the head coach of to help build our spring training, and to emphasize the strength programming we had started.”

“These were things we knew the best teams in the state, Edgar, Stratford, Regis, Lancaster, Owen-Withee had all done and seen success,” he added. “We were just using their formula to hope for similar results.”

And results started to come. Under Knapmiller’s direction, the Falcons won the Cloverwood conference in 2015 and again in 2016. That year, they made it to the level 4 playoff game, one away from state, before falling 22-14 against eventual state champ Regis. While the Falcons came up one game short from a three-peat in the Cloverwood, they once again made it to the level 4 playoff game in 2017, eventually falling 30-7 to Bangor. Abbotsford won the Cloverwood again in 2018 and 2019 and made two more lengthy playoff runs, coming up just short of state berths in both.

After a pandemic-marred 2020 season, the Falcons picked up playoff wins in 2021 and 2024 following a move up to Division 6.

There have been many incredible memories, players and coaches along the way to Knapmiller’s 100th win.

“So many of our games have had amazing memories but one of them that sticks out is the Level 3 game versus Clear Lake the year we played Bangor in Level 4,” Knapmiller said. “The snowfall was as heavy as it could have been and there were guys from Clear Lake with shovels clearing the lines on the field as the game was being played. The players still talk about that game.”

“The amazing assistant coaches have been so integral to this program,” he added. “Long time defensive coordinator and friend Andy Brehm was a rock for our team and coached all of the players that now coach in our program. The Henrickson family had a lineage in coaching and playing in our program and currently every coach in our high school and middle school football program has played as a Falcon, one of them being Adam Seefluth who was a water boy, a 1,000 yard running back, and now a long time coach.”

Knapmiller was also very appreciative of everyone who has been part of this now decade-and-a-half long journey.

“The 100 win celebration, thanks to my coaching staff, the team, and my wife Jana for making it special, was so good to help reflect and take a second to stop and think about all the memories,” he said. “So many former players came back for homecoming and were able to reconnect and talk about those great times.”

“The people around the program make it what it is and that includes parents and community members, Knapmiller added. “I want to personally give credit to Eric Elmhorst for supporting me to take the head coach position, Reed Welsh for supporting me as the superintendent through the first few rough years, and Dan Rau who as a father of a pair of middle school boys, who convinced me to take the risk of applying for the job. Of course a good coach has to put in a lot of time, and it is impossible for that to happen in a marriage without having a caring and understanding wife and kids. Jana and Easton are just as involved in our football programs and our students as anyone.”

Statistics

Aguilera led all backs with 98 yards from scrimmage on just five carries. Boller added 74 on only three touches, Ploeckelman had 70 yards on six carries and Reyes finished with three carries and 44 yards. All four scored touchdowns. Jayden Le picked up 32 yards on four carries and Manuel Lopez had 26 yards on six touches.

Cihlar completed the only pass for Abbotsford, finding Davila for an eight yard touchdown.

Davila led the team in tackles, finishing with 4.5 and collecting the team’s only sack of the game. Izaac Sundermeyer was second on the team with four tackles, Aguilera recovered a fumble and had an interception for a touchdown, and Boller recorded one pick.