Fallon’s Baylor Sandberg jumps over a fallen Spartans’ player.
Photo by Steve Ranson.
The Greenwave put a ribbon on Hall of Fame weekend with a neatly wrapped win for the former Fallon greats.
Fallon scored 28 first-half points — one on a good, old-fashioned flea-flicker — to defeat Spring Creek, 40-8, Friday at the Edward Arciniega Athletic Complex. Not only was the latest Northern 3A game a complete win on both sides of the ball, but Fallon (5-2 overall, 4-1 league) also avenged a loss to the Spartans (3-4, 3-2) in last year’s playoffs.
“We came out hard and told the kids not to worry about last year,” Coach Brooke Hill said.
Hill said he brought offensive coach Lalo Otuafi from the eagle’s nest towering above the Fallon grandstands to the sidelines. Hill said the execution was much better with his coach on the field.
Fallon quarterback Bryce Adams riddled the Spartans’ secondary by completing 13 of 16 passes for 226 yards and four touchdowns, while Roland Grondin picked up 197 yards on the ground on 22 carries. But the big play came before the end of the first half.
Adams looked to his left and completed a pass to Carter Paul, who, in turn, stopped, looked downfield, and heaved a long pass to Brady Alves for a 70-yard strike with minutes ticking off the clock before halftime.
The flea-flicker play was like quicksand for the Spartans, who struggled all night against the Greenwave passing game. Alves and Paul provided the one-two knockout. Alves snagged five passes for 129 yards and three touchdowns, and Paul also caught five passes for 100 yards and one touchdown.
“We try to work on those every practice,” Hill said.
Adams said the team came out ready to play the Spartans.
“We a whole new team from last year,” Adams said. “We knew it was going to be a dog fight.”
“It just comes down to the game and to see what works. Yea, I stepped back to admire it,” Adams said.
Adams said he was hoping it would work because the team works on it during practice.
Adams said the team is coming back from its loss to Truckee two weeks ago.
The Greenwave also added 22 points in the second quarter by mixing up their offensive attack. Adams engineered the offense to score its second touchdown in quick fashion. After the defense stopped the Spartans in four plays, Adams linked up with Alves for a 76-yard pass, and Alves also scored the 2-point conversion with 9:39 left before halftime.
Alves’s speed was too much for the Spartans to contain as the ball found its spot in the senior’s outreached hands.
“Offensive, we’re getting a lot better,” he said, “Our execution was a lot better tonight. We played them well.”
Alves said the flea flicker surprised the Spartans.
Spring Creek responded with its only good drive of the first half. Taking the ball on their 33-yard line, Spring Creek moved in Fallon territory on three plays including a 33-yard run from Keagan Vandeneykel.
The Spartans stepped backward on an offensive pass interference that put the ball on the Greenwave 48. The Spartans fizzled and punted from their 39-yard line.
In five plays on their offensive series, the Greenwave put together a five-play scoring drive. On a first and 10 from the Spartans’ 38, Grondin rumbled through the line for Fallon’s third score of the night. Alves, who normally engineers the offense on extra points, completed the 2-point pass to Ethan Tarner.
Not only was the offense clicking on all cylinders but the defense kept the Spartans off the board until late in the fourth quarter when Spring Creek’s quarterback Austin Reasbeck threw a 33-yard pass to wide receiver Jon Crawford-Wadley. Up until that time, the Greenwave secondary had limited Reasbeck, who completed 8 of 14 passes for 56 yards, to 26 yards.
Vandeneykel broke through the Fallon line for the 2-point conversion.
Fallon ate up most of the clock in the first quarter and struck first on the scoreboard with 1:08 left. Starting on the Spartans 44, Fallon took care of business in four plays capped by Adams 22-yard pass to Alves who worked his way free in the back corner of the end zone. Fallon’s 2-point conversion failed on a 17-yard pass from Adams to Baylor Sandberg. A pair of penalties backed the ball to the 17 yard-line, and the Spartans’ Cayden LaRance wrapped around Sandberg at the 7-yard line.
With Fallon liberally substituting in the second half, Fallon scored in the third quarter when Adams and Tarner linked up for a 39-yard pass play down the sideline with a little more than 3 minutes showing on the scoreboard.
Fallon 40, Spring Creek 8
Spring Creek 0 0 0 8 — 8
Fallon 6 22 6 6 — 40
First quarter
F — Alves 21 pass from Adams (conversion failed)
Second quarter
F — Alves 76 pass from Adams (Alves run)
F — Grondin 38 run (Tanner pass from Alves)
F — Tarner 3 pass from Alves (conversion failed)
F — Paul 70 pass from Alves (conversion failed)
Third quarter
F — Tarner 29 pass from Adams (conversion failed)
Fourth quarter
F — Alves 10 pass from Adams (conversion failed)
SC —Crawford-Wadley pass from Reasbeck (pass good)