Falcons

use SHS

miscues

for win

By BOB VARMETTE

Journal Sports Writer

SPRINGFIELD -- A football game is 48 minutes long. Playing well for 44 minutes means very little.

Just ask the Springfield Tigers.

The Red Rock Central Falcons had just tied the game at 14 with 4:16 in the second quarter.

But there was no reason to panic. The Tigers were getting the ball back, and having scored on two of their previous three possessions there was no reason to think they couldn't stick it in the end zone one more time before halftime.

Then the nightmare started.

The Tigers fumbled the ensuing kickoff and the Falcons scored. Then the Tigers fumbled the next kickoff, and the Falcons scored. The Tigers didn't fumble the next kickoff, but three plays later an interception turned the ball over to the Falcons, and two plays later the Falcons scored.

The score was 35-14 Falcons. Class 1A No. 5 RRC coasted from there, taking a 41-21 win from Springfield Friday night in Southern Minnesota Conference football, spoiling the Tigers' homecoming at Riverside Park.

"It's very frustrating," Springfield coach Paul Dunn said. "For the last three weeks now, we've had small lapses. Last week, it was in the fourth quarter. This week, it was four minutes in the second quarter."

Good teams capitalize on those lapses. RRC (6-0, 6-0 SMC) made Springfield (1-5, 1-5) pay.

"You don't count on getting (two fumbles) in a row," RRC coach Brian Walker said. "But boy, the special teams did it again."

The three turnovers meant the Falcons needed only to go 30, 24 and 21 yards for the three touchdowns that proved to be the difference.

It had been a promising beginning to the Tigers' homecoming game. In the first 20 minutes, Springfield totaled 157 yards of offense; the Tigers finished with 237 yards.

Forced to play catch-up, Springfield did cut the Falcons' lead to 35-21 when senior quarterback Ryan Sturm hooked up with senior Adam Schmid on a 12-yard touchdown pass with 3:38 left in the third. But all three Springfield possessions in the fourth quarter ended in interceptions.

Springfield committed six turnovers total. Sturm was 10 of 24 for 160 yards and two touchdowns, but threw four interceptions.

"When you turn the ball over six times, it's hard to win," Dunn said. "Our kids played with intensity in the second half. I was proud of the way they played solid defense. We just have to eliminate the mistakes."

The Tigers got off to a promising start. Springfield went 76 yards in eight plays on the game's opening drive with Sturm hitting Bryan Lang to finish the march with a 19-yard touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead with 8:57 remaining in the first.

RRC answered with a 1-yard run by senior Colby Pack, who had 31 carries for 156 yards and two rushing touchdowns. Pack got his second rushing touchdown on a 2-yard run to give RRC a 28-14 advantage with 46 seconds in the first half.

Pack also scored on a 7-yard catch with no time on the clock in the first half and returned an interception 35 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

The Tigers got their second score on a 1-yard Sturm run for a 14-7 lead with 8:28 in the first half. Lee Schaffran caught an 8-yard pass from Corey Fishel to tie the game at 14 and set the stage for the disastrous turn of events for the Tigers.

The Tigers' lack of size was also a problem. The Falcons pounded Pack into the Springfield line time after time, particularly in the first half; Pack had 21 carries for 129 yards in the first 24 minutes.

"Their first drive, they marched it right down on us, so we figured it was going to be a tough game," Pack said. "So we figured we had to march it down the field, and that's what we did. We powered it right at them."

The Falcons rushed for 244 yards on 58 attempts in the game.

"The kids were picking something up, and the kids really attacked the holes and stayed on the blocks," Walker said. "We did have a size advantage up front, so that helped us. Pack made some nice cuts, he gets those extra yards."

The four minutes at the end of the second half exemplified two teams on divergent paths -- Springfield wondering what might have been if not for some mistakes of youth, the Falcons thinking about what might be.

"We're playing really well as a team right now," Pack said. "Our line is blocking really good. The defense is stepping up when they have to. The sky's the limit for us now."

RRC 7 28 0 6--41

SPRINGFIELD 7 7 7 0--21

1st Quarter

SHS--B.Lang 19 pass from Sturm (M.Lang kick), 8:57

RRC--Pack 1 run (K.Engen kick) 3:34

2nd Quarter

SHS--Sturm 1 run (M.Lang kick), 8:28

RRC--Schaffran 8 pass from Fishel (K.Engen kick), 4:16

RRC--Johnson 3 run (K.Engen kick), 3:46

RRC--Pack 1 run (K.Engen kick), :46

RRC--Pack 7 pass from Fishel (K.Engen kick), :00

3rd Quarter

SHS--A.Schmid 12 pass from Sturm (M.Lang kick), 3:38

4th Quarter

RRC--Pack 35 interception return (kick failed), 11:30.