FALCONS: Next off to Woodland
Both are sharing the load in the Falcons’ zone running game this year, and after their team struggled through an 0-4 start, they finally had something to celebrate.
De La Vega rushed for 129 yards on 16 carries and scored two touchdowns, Engelhardt added 108 yards on 16 carries of his own with a score, and the Falcons earned their first victory of the 2016 campaign with a 40-26 TriCounty Conference victory over Rio Linda on Friday night at Falcon Stadium.
River Valley led 40-13 late in the fourth quarter, but the Knights were able to mount a late rally to make the score look a little more respectable.
Friday marked a return to the sidelines for River Valley coach Brennan McFadden, who missed both of his team’s losses to Roseville and Pleasant Valley due to the Yuba City Teachers Association strike.
The Falcons were on bye last week, leaving McFadden three weeks away from coaching in a game.
“I never want to take that much time off from coaching football ever again ... ever,” McFadden said with a laugh. “That’s a big win, big night for the kids. They’ve been putting in the work and they deserved to get a victory.”
From the opening kick, McFadden preached to his team the importance of a “fast start.” The Falcons heard him loud and clear as they marched 62 yards on the first drive of the game to the end zone with Engelhardt surging in from 16 yards out.
Jojo Penn picked off a pass to end Rio Linda’s ensuing drive, and the Falcons found paydirt again, this time on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Dawson McPeak to Jerry Lizama-White, who was only getting started.
Not even a minute later, LizamaWhite recovered a Rio Linda fumble, then one play after that, he caught another touchdown pass from McPeak, this time from 21 yards out.
Later in the game, Lizama-White picked off a pass and blocked a pointafter attempt.
With the Falcons up 27-0 after Lizama-White’s two touchdown grabs, Rio Linda scored at the 3:40 mark of the second quarter to make it 27-6.
River Valley answered with an 80yard scoring drive, capped off by a 3yard plunge by Isaiah Uriostegui on fourth-and-goal to put the halftime score at 33-6.
“We started off fast, now we just need to work on finishing,” McFadden said. “It’s hard to play a perfect game, but that’s what you stress is playing strong all four quarters. I’m really proud of them, though.”
Rio Linda (2-4, 0-2) scored on its first possession of the second half, a 74-yard drive that was aided by some Falcon penalties.
The two teams’ defenses dug in after that until the Falcons put the game out of reach with a 55-yard drive to open the fourth quarter. De La Vega scored from 10 yards out to extend the Falcon lead to 40-13.
Rio Linda did its best to make things interesting, even recovering two onside kicks, but Penn’s second interception of the game ended it. Penn also had three catches for 86 yards and McPeak threw for 151 yards.
The Falcons continue TCC play at Woodland (3-2, 0-1) next week.
“(Friday) was a great first step to our ultimate goal of winning a TCC championship,” McFadden said. “On Monday, we’ll be ready to get back to work. The most important game on the schedule is the next week and that’s Woodland.”
The Falcons dropped the junior varsity matchup 42-16 despite some strong rushing numbers.
David Kyambadde continued a strong campaign with a night of 137 yards rushing and two scores – from 60 and 75 yards out. Evan Strickland also ran well, going for 78 yards.
Despite dropping to 2-3 overall (0-1 TCC), River Valley got interceptions from Johnny Murguia, Drake Tedder and Anthony Carpio.