9U SILVER WINS FIRST HOME GAME
Under threatening skies, the young Falcons took the field for their first home game. Their opponent, the undefeated Downers Grove Panthers. Coach Mike Garber lead the pregame chant of “First play, every day, all day,” and — to the surprise of many — they seemed to listen.
Billy Jaqua took the ball on the first play from scrimmage and scampered 60 yards. Four plays later Teddy Ouimette scooted around end for his first career touchdown. The drive featured excellent blocking by AJ Siepker, Luke Hansen, Harrison Kuzniar, Alex Demetis, Dario Rendina and Grant Garber. A failed PAT left the score Falcons 6, Panthers 0.
The story of the game was the Falcon defense. The Panthers mounted a furious comeback attempt. A Jaqua interception ended one threat. In the second half a fumble caused by Jacob Stanton and recovered by JP Rago thwarted another drive.
The pass defense excelled with great coverage and tackling by Max Breton, Mas Buttitta, Carter Pearson and Cooper Milburn. Time and time again the Panthers were turned away by a relentless pass rush led by Keegan McCoskey, Rocco Mateja, John Dunn, Will Jones and Jasper Maggio. Nate Morris slammed shut any hopes of a comeback with an interception on the last play of the game, sealing a 6-0 victory.
The young Falcons reflected on their first victory over Labor Day weekend, with an understanding there is work to be done, but all agree this is a labor of love.
9U GOLD SHUTS OUT PALATINE
Coach Nate Brown’s 9U Gold team took the field at Hinsdale Central Sunday, playing in adverse conditions for the first time. The team was ready, executing with the discipline and focus of a much older squad. When the skies opened and unleashed a heavy downpour, the Falcons matched the storm’s intensity to beat Palatine 26-0 and move to 2-0 on the season.
After playing shorthanded last week, the team had most of its players for the first time and flashed the full potential for the team. The defense led the way by pitching a shutout, with Christian Kirchev wreaking havoc all day alongside Joey Hillegass, Sebastian Christianson and Lucasz Gewont on the front line. The linebacking crew of Marcello Salamone, Luke Gray, Marco Oliverio and Kellen Brown made tackle after tackle, and defensive backs Ben Murphy, Reid Jacobsen, Lucas Zayed and Carson Malinas snuffed out every potential big play that made it their way.
The offense, led by Soren Carlson at quarterback, scored at will. The offensive line controlled the game with Nico Will, Ivan Burt and Carter Cox joining others to lead the way. Behind the powerful O-line, the thunder and lightning combination from the Falcons running backs was too much for the defense. Topher Allanson used his speed and moves to break two long touchdown runs to start the scoring and was quickly followed by two long, powerful “hammer runs” for touchdowns from Brown and Nate Thangamani.
The team travels for its first away game this weekend to Arlington Heights.
10U SILVER WINS TIGHT CONTEST
The Falcons came into the Sunday Showdown at Dickenson Field knowing that it was going to be a tough battle against the Bartlett Raiders.
Starting out on defense, the Falcons put the Raiders on notice with a quick three and out led by Shane Behar, Faiz Moosani and Lucas Herrick shutting down all attempts to run on the outside and putting heavy pressure on the Raiders’ quarterback every time he tried to pass.
The defense didn’t let up all game as they were consistently applying pressure from everywhere, with strong performances by Bennet “Baby Hulk” Zeikus, Maximus Hull, Luke “Leebo” Lieberenz and Giancarlo Turano playing shut down corner.
On offense, the Falcons were led by Brady Madden at quarterback as he spread the ball around to his receivers, including Lucas Spatara going up and “Mossing” the Raiders defenders for a 25-yard gain. The running attack was stellar, racking up over 150 yards on the ground led by Gavin Shuler, Jaxon Uthe and Nick Carbonara. The Raiders’ defense was effective at keeping the Falcons out of the endzone until Jaxon Uthe took the Jet Sweep outside and stiff armed his way to the endzone.
The offensive line continues to be the power of this dynamic offense, led by Alex Vivanco, Jackson Rettiger, Ryan Swieten and Rayan Sheikh.
The Raiders tried one last push in the end of the fourth quarter, but their hopes were squashed by timely tackling and a game ending interception by Ryan Pieczkowski.
The 2-0 Falcons are back at Dickenson Field at 10 a.m. Sunday to face Lemont.
13U SILVER falls to tough opponent
The Hinsdale Falcons 13U Silver lost a tough game on Sunday against the Naperville Saints, 36-0.
The first half started out strong with Michael Dunford running for 4 yards off a quarterback handoff from Alex Sclabassi. The Falcons’ defensive line of Isaiah Shin, Auden Bunnow, James Frankel, Evan Zydek, Max Penaloza, Alex Mattson, Francesco Rendina and Jack Sefton had its hands full against a strong Naperville running game. Highlights include Evan Zydek with two explosive quarterback sacks, resulting in a Naperville loss of 6 yards. Drew Wyant intercepted a 10-yard pass, helping re-position the Falcons. Liam Allen stripped the ball from the Naperville quarterback in the second quarter for a Naperville turnover. Alex Tafoya showcased the Falcons’ talent with a personal game-high of five tackles.
The Falcons’ offensive line of Jack Grosek, Lias Katz, Max Penaloza, James Frankel, Liam Gillmore, Alex Mattson and Auden Bunnow show great potential working on their blocking. Andrew Nield had a 25-yard reception from quarterback Alex Sclabassi in the final seconds. Although they are still getting their footing, this motivated team is gaining traction and developing week over week. Hinsdale looks to get back on track at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, at Hinsdale Central against Downers Grove.
VARSITY RED comes THROUGH on ‘d’
Football is game of offense, defense and special teams and it would be defense and special Teams that would give the kids from Hinsdale the boost they needed. Defensive end Tommy Riordan chased down the Lemont quarterback in the end zone after the snap flew over his head for a sack, a safety and the first score of the game. A muffed punt gave the ball to Hinsdale at the Lemont 2-yardline. Owen Sunderson would score on the next play as he carried would-be tacklers off the right side into the endzone for the Falcons’ first touchdown of the day. Luke Zajicek, Riordan and John Breton all made key blocks on the play. A successful PAT try would make the score 9-0 going into the half.
With the passing game struggling to click, Sunderson would do the work with his feet to start the second half. The Falcons’ quarterback would take it off the left side 52 yards to paydirt early in the third quarter. They would score one more time after Sunderson found Luke McLaughlin for a 27-yard completion that took the ball down to the 2-yard line. Sunderson would punch it in himself for his third touchdown of the day. Sunderson and Cam Linn led the Falcons’ rushing attack on the day helped by blocking from Michael Sharples, Jimmy Satchwell and Zaher Akbar.
The Falcons defense played tough and would let up only one score on the day. The defensive line led by Mutaz Alshahrour, Amaan Moosani and Johnathon Fausto were run stoppers all day. The Hinsdale D closed the game with an interception from corner back Beau Knapp, which was his second interception of the game. Final score 21-6.
VARSITY GOLD has IMPRESSIVE WIN
It was another impressive win for the Hinsdale Gold division one Falcons on Sunday at Palatine‘s Ost Field.
Brian O’Malley’s quick screen pass to Charles Calhoun opened up the scoring in the first quarter with another 2-point PAT by Orestas Bockus to make it 8-0.
Palatine kept it close until early in the third-quarter when they made a decision on fourth and 20 to punt to Calhoun. He easily took it back to the house, making the score 16-0 in the third quarter.
The defense continued its dominance by posting another shut out, leading to a 32-0 win! The Falcons’ offensive line and defensive line were unstoppable forces in this game. Michael Panzica, Max Judge, Andrew Zeiss, Matthew Tomfohrde, Don Mershon and Jake Chao Sun all played extremely well on both lines.
Next up — a revenge game versus TriCity at Mooseheart stadium.
