Fitch begins building process with tough loss

Plainfield — The message Fitch coach Mike Ellis had for his team late Friday night was a simple one: The choice is yours.

On the heels of a winless 2014 season, the Falcons left too many chances on the field in their season- opening 27-20 loss to Plainfield. And that left Ellis with his postgame challenge.

"They have the choice to either bond together, rise up, and turn this around," he said, "or they can just take this loss, shrug their shoulders, and tell themselves and accept that 'this is just the way it is.'

"My hope, and my belief, is that they will rise to the occasion and fight."

Fitch, which has lost 13 straight, gave Ellis a few glimmers, particularly in the second half, to make him believe that's the way it will go. The Falcons were down two scores after Tyler Ballard scored on a 50-yard run on the Panthers' second play of the quarter. But they got a turnover, then forced a three-and-out on the next possessions, and when Jonathon Johnston ran it in from five yards out with less than a minute to go in the third, Fitch trailed just 27-20.

And the Falcons had the ball twice in the fourth quarter with the score holding there. One possession ended in a three-and-out, the other in a turnover.

"Hey, we got within one score and had the ball to either tie the game or take the lead," Ellis said. "We just didn't do it. We knew coming in that we had a long road to go, and we need to learn to play four quarters and finish games. These are part of the growing pains.

"These kids want to win so badly and there is a lot of emotion from them because they didn't. A lot of them thought tonight was the night to do it. We'll learn to be tougher. We'll learn to make the plays. We'll have to or else it'll be more of the same, and I really don't think these kids will stand for that."

Fitch had a lot of trouble getting the Plainfield offense off the field. The Panthers had two drives of 14 plays, but also allowed touchdowns on short drives (three, four and two plays), failed to recover an onsides kick, and were whistled for five offsides penalties (all for lining up in the neutral zone).

But they also got some big plays out of quarterback Robby Duncan, and solid play froma number of skill position players.

"There are positives that we can take, and that we have to take," Duncan said. "We came back and played a lot better in the second half. We didn't make as many mistakes, we played with more purpose.

"Now we just have to go back to practice and work hard. The leaders on this team, the seniors, have to stay on top of things and not let this get away from us. You worry that it can kind of snowball but that's why we will be ready to go for practice and ready to work and get this turned around. It's what we have to do."

Duncan and Parker Gibson scored the Falcons' other touchdowns, both from 1 yard out.