Ben Murphy
Sports Scene
Had they not given up 21 points in the second quarter of their district final football game, the Freeland Falcons might have won their first district championship since 2008.
Instead, the Hemlock Huskies used those 21 points to pull off a 27-21 win, ending the Falcons’ season at 8-3.
“It is always disappointing,” sixth-year head coach Kevin Townsend said. “The seniors worked so hard, but they know that it will eventually come to an end.”
Hemlock led 21-7 at the half, though Freeland got back in the game. It scored on its first two possessions of the second half, first on a David Ruhlman one-yard run at the 7:04 mark and again on a Matt Schauman 16-yard run with 1:19 to play in the third. However, the Huskies stopped the last two Falcon possessions in the game.
“Their size [made for a tough match up],” Townsend said. “We were such a small team up front. I think that we were physical enough to play with them, but their size and strength just wears you down.”
Schauman scored on a six-yard run with 21 seconds left in the first quarter to account for the Falcons’ other score.
“I thought that overall it was very successful,” Townsend said of the season. “We won the conference title [Tri-Valley Central] again but would have given that up in a hurry to win the district championship and still be playing. These boys have been playing together for a long time. We had no individuals on the team, and everyone played with the team in mind. We have a great work ethic in the off-season and that has really paid off for us.”