FORNEY, Texas — The Falcons wanted to show everyone that they were a tough, physical team that could compete with the best in the district. At the end of the night the scoreboard may not have shown it, but North Forney proved they were indeed, tough and physical.
FORNEY, Texas — The Falcons wanted to show everyone that they were a tough, physical team that could compete with the best in the district. At the end of the night the scoreboard may not have shown it, but North Forney proved they were indeed, tough and physical.
The Falcons may be 1-2 in district play after losing a late 4th quarter lead Friday night, but the arrow is pointed up with the toughest part of district in the rear-view mirror.
The Falcons offense struggled for much of the night. In the first half, the Falcons would turn the ball over twice in Tigers’ territory. One of those would be a fumbled handoff exchange on the first play of the night offensively for North Forney at the Corsicana 35-yard line. The next would be a couple possessions later when a high pass would go through the hands of Collyn Shipley and into the lap of a Corsicana defender for an interception.
Corsicana led 0-7 after a 54-yard touchdown run by Damarius Daniels with 5:16 to play in the 1st quarter. Both teams would exchange punts until midway through the 2nd quarter when North Forney’s offense would find some life after a 23-yard run by Ty Collins (16 carries for 110 yards and 2 touchdowns) put the offense near midfield. A couple plays later Jacob Acuna would find Nick Booe (4 catches for 141 yards) down the sideline for a 36-yard gain. Collyn Shipley would tie the game up with a 19-yard touchdown catch from Jacob Acuna on a beautiful double move down the middle of the field. For all of North Forney’s offensive struggles in the first half the game would be tied at 7-7 going into halftime.
The second half began with some seesawing action that would see Corsicana take a 21-13 lead into the 4th quarter. The Falcons 3rd quarter touchdown came from a 15-yard burst on the ground from Ty Collins. A couple of minutes into the 4th quarter, after a 34-yard pass from Acuna (197 yards passing and 1 TD) to Booe, the Falcons would have to eventually settle for a Carlos Rodriguez 27-yard field goal to make it 16-21 Corsicana with 8:44 left to play. The Falcons would get the ball back at the Tigers 46-yard line following a Tigers punt and embark on an 8-play drive capped off by the go ahead 3-yard touchdown run from Collins. The Falcons would successfully convert the two-point conversion with a pass from Acuna to Kam Allen in the front left of the endzone. The Falcons would lead 24-21 with 5:01 left in the game.
One stop from the Falcons defense would have pretty much sealed the game. To Corsicana’s credit they overcame a 2nd down and 20, 3rd down and 9, and 2nd down and 15 before facing a 4th down and 8 at the Falcons 8-yard line. At first the Tigers lined up for the game tying field goal attempt. After a series of timeouts from both teams, the Tigers decided to leave their offense on the field for the do-or-die 4th and goal. The Faclons would see the same formation and play from a few plays earlier but were unable to stop it as Tigers quarterback Soloman James found Drew Denbow in the corner of the endzone to go back up 24-27 but they would go on to miss the extra point leaving the door open for another North Forney rally.
The Falcons would have 46 seconds to at least get into field goal range. They would have the advantage of a strong wind behind their back. With North Forney out of timeouts and facing a 4th and 10 at the Corsicana 34-yard line, Coach Jackson would decide to go for the game tying field goal from 51 yards out. The snap would be good, but the hold would be bobbled and unable to be put down in time for Rodriguez to boot it away. Alas the Falcons would fail to send the game to overtime and unfortunately come away with a loss, 24-27. The loss moves North Forney to 3-2 (1-2) on the year.
North Forney will take on the Greenville Lions next week at Greenville. Kickoff is at 7:30pm and the radio broadcast will start at 7:10pm
For more high resolution game-day photos, visit Big Shots Photography.