By Ethan Rohrbaugh
Tribune Correspondent
SHORT GAP—If the Frankfort Falcons had any post-season jitters going into their first playoff game in years, it certainly didn’t show in Saturday afternoon’s game against Herbert Hoover.
FHS led 21-0 at the break and continued on to a 42-16 win to advance to the second round of the AA playoff bracket.
The first possession of the game ended in a punt for the Falcons, and Jeremy Miltenberger pinned Hoover down at the 11.
On the Huskies’ very first play, they gave to ball right back when Zach Nieberlein pounced on a fumble at the 14 yard line.
After two runs moved the ball to the 10, James Jones hit Joey Luciw on a bubble screen and Luciw took it in for the score. Logan Wolford’s point-after attempt was partially blocked by the Hoover defensive line, but it still found its way through the uprights.
The ball exchanged hands a few more times, but stayed right around midfield as the first quarter ran out.
The next points came late in the half on an eight play, 52 yard drive that was capped off by a 26 yard run by Joey Luciw.
see FHS page 5
The Falcon lead stood at 14-0 with 3:49 in the first half.
Hoover got pass happy on the ensuing possession, but could only move 10 yards on a defensive holding call before they would set up to punt again.
Breaking the huddle at the 28, Frankfort’s offense took the field for a two-minute drill.
Three straight rushes made it a first down out over the 40 yard line, and Jones took over from there.
He hit Wolford for 23 yards to the Hoover 32, and then Miltenberger for 11 more. After a timeout with 54 seconds remaining, Jones connected with Wolford again for 15 yards and a fourth first down in as many plays.
On the very next play, Miltenberger took the handoff in for a five yard touchdown bringing the score to 21-0, and that would be how the first half ended.
Frankfort dominated both sides of the ball, going for 196 yards to Hoover’s 53 and moving the chains 12 times to the Huskies’ 4.
Jones was 5 for 7 with 68 yards and a score, and the ground game behind him was well balanced between four backs; Luciw had five for 41, Miltenberger had eight for 30, Daniel McCormick had five for 23, and Dalton Brown had six for 21.
Hoover got the ball to start the second half, but turned it over on a three-and-out. Frankfort took the punt to their 33 and drove down to the Huskies’ 24 before turning it over on downs.
The Huskies moved the sticks twice on the following drive, but would be forced to punt it away once again, and set up the Falcons with 85 yards of grass in front of them, Frankfort only needed four plays to get back into the end zone.
Jones went to Nieberlein for 38 yards on the first play, and Brown carried for 23 yards and the next.
A short carry was negated by an illegal formation to make it first and 15 from the 29 when Jones and Wolford hooked up again, this time for a touchdown with 3:29 remaining in the third.
The FHS defense stepped it up for another three-and-out, and the Falcons had it back at their 40, where they set up for another four play drive that reached pay dirt.
It came on a 46 yard run by the quarterback, as Jones stiff armed and juked his way into the end zone to put the Falcons up, 35-0.
Hoover took the ensuing kickoff 89 yards for the Huskies first points of the contest and added a two-point conversion with under 20 seconds to play in the third.
Frankfort fumbled to start the fourth, but Hoover couldn’t get anything going, and set up to punt after just three snaps.
The Falcon’s next drive also lasted three plays, but ended in a third Luciw touchdown, this one coming from 34 yards away to make it 42-8 with eight minutes to play.
The Huskies drove down to the 11 before stalling on fourth down, but the Falcon second string did the same on three plays and gave it back to HH at the 23.
Robbie Kidd scored Hoover’s first offensive points on a four yarder with 3:12 showing on the game clock.
Hoover tried the onside kick, but were unsuccessful, and Frankfort was able to run the clock out for the 42-16 win.
FHS racked up 511 yards of offense while holding the Huskies to only 154. Hoover’s seven first downs were also eclipsed by Frankfort’s 21.
Jones finished with 135 yards on 8 of 10 passing and added 74 yards on the ground. He found the end zone a total of three times.
Wolford was the leading receiver with 77 yards and a score on his four grabs.
Luciw carried ten times for 98 yards and had three total touchdowns, Brown added 68 yards on 11 totes, McCormick finished with 12 for 62, and Miltenberger rushed for 32 yards and a score.
“I think the main thing is that we have so many weapons,” commented FHS head coach Kevin Whiteman. “Its hard for a defense to try to key in on shutting one guy down because we have so many guys we can throw at them.”
Frankfort will be facing No. 12 Pikeview next Friday night in Short Gap.
Pikeview upset Westside on Friday by pitching a second half shutout and scoring 22 unanswered points to go onto a 36-21 win.
Ridgeley, W.Va. —
