CROSBY Coach Mac was the color of a Christmas tree bulb when he though his first game at Falcon Stadium was about to be rained out at 7:37 p.m. on August 28.
Weve waited 28 years for this game. he exclaimed in reaction to reporter questions as he marched his team back to the locker room when the opening game was delayed due to lightning.
But kickoff did happen at 9:00 p.m. and the Huffman Falcons would honor the dedication and sacrifice of the community to see that the Varsity team have a world class facility in which to play football. Although fans had to wait below the stadium seats and Press Box to keep dry, the excitement for the game never diminished. But seating had been packed to capacity before the game and just over a third of attendants stayed for the late game.
Huffman Falcons opened the game pushing the Willis Wildkats down the field to the 7 yardline but the drive faltered when a pitchout resulted in a turnover. First blood was drawn by #4 Casey Martin who dashed in 19 yards to the inside right of the Wildkats after a quick 10 yard pass from Cole DeBerry with 3 and a half minutes left in the first quarter.
Most of the big mistakes, fumbles turnovers in possession made by both teams happened in the second quarter when both teams scores seven points with less than three minutes left before the half. Joel Witwer #7 caught an amazing short pass from DeBerry. The Huffman defense had the short play but the Wildkats had the bomb, they got 7 off a 45 yard pass just before the half was over.
Desi Tchussen kicked extra points all night long and scored early in the third quarter with a 30 yard interception return. He would however fail one kick in the final three minutes of the third quarter.
Then the Falcons seemed to lose focus for scant minutes just after the turnover made points for the home team. The Wildkats were able to return a kickoff for 80 plus yards. About five play minutes later the Wildkats would score another touchdown on a wild, side to side field covering pass and dash.
It seemed the element of coaching however rallied the Falcons at 29 to 21 in the third. Joel Witwer caught a pass from DeBerry and made it count for 6.
Willis was determined to watch for Falcon flaws. When Huffman failed to complete that extra point kick by a pat block. The Wildkats Brent Walters sprinted 95 yards into the endzone as the third quarter was winding down into the last two minutes.
The amazing ability of the Falcons to shut down the short straight run must have been the seed of the Willis sideways run that more than eight times they pulled going for long yardage. A receiver would catch the ball then run a zig-zag pattern from one sideline to the other picking up extra yards when the Falcons were thrown off their game.
Four times a Huffman player however caught the runner and all that went for nothing. But in the fourth quarter the Wildkats put a fine 30 plus yard dash into the game. Willis had pulled from way back to up by one and the Falcons looked out of steam except for the steam from the Falcons defense that were heard popping pads on the line. Finally, Joel Witner landed with an all day in the air pass and sprinted it in for six. To make the show complete, Martin and DeBerry added two more.
The total yardage was about equal for both teams and possession of the ball nearly equal also. Willis scored more of the hurry up offensive because they had to against the Falcons defense. Cole DeBerry was hitting about 50% of his throws and that will improve as his receivers get better at catching the lightning. He gave Huffman about 100 yards more than Willis in passing at roughly 270 yards.
The bragging point for Huffman is that the team played clean and yet was popping on the line. Huffman had a few minor penalties but was not making the big obvious no-nos.