Warriors battle Titans

Last Friday, the Fallbrook Warriors faced off against the Eastlake Titans in the first round of the CIF playoffs; they rallied in the last quarter but fell short with the final score of Eastlake 31, Fallbrook 23.

The game began slowly for the Warriors even though they had many opportunities to score. Right from the start Eastlake received the ball, but Rob Taft forced a fumble and Jason Rasmussen recovered. Fallbrook didn’t capitalize and the Titans bulldozed the defense, ending in a touchdown. The score was 7-0. Fallbrook got in position to receive, but after a miscue the Titans ran to jump on the live ball, taking control of it on the Fallbrook 15. Eastlake gained 3 yards and then at 2 and 7, they scored. On the next drive, the Warriors punted but Nolan Hamblen soon intercepted the Eastlake quarterback, giving the offense possession. Fallbrook’s run was stopped again and Eastlake scored once more with a touchdown by their Stanford-bound receiver Carr. Fallbrook had one more shot at the end zone but it was denied, leaving the first half score Eastlake 21, Fallbrook 0.

The second half began with the Warriors sustaining a huge drive, set up by a 16-yard pass from Holt (16-22 for 259 yards) and a 15-yard run by Anthony Morrow. The Warriors moved into the Eastlake red zone, where they were stopped on fourth and goal at the 1 yard line. The Fallbrook defense denied the Titans yards, forcing them to punt. The Fallbrook team took the ball in great field position and went deep. Aaron Holt passed to Andrew Atkins for a 44-yard touchdown play, giving the Warriors 7 to Eastlake’s 21.

Eastlake bounced back with another touchdown run, but Fallbrook drove down the field once more with Holt completing a 14-yard pass to Matt Burke and a 20-yard pass to Andrew Atkins. The Warriors struggled again to make it into the end zone and were stopped at the Titan 7. Eastlake responded by moving down the field and kicking a field goal so the Titans led 31-7.

With a little over 3 minutes left in the game, Fallbrook’s offense caught on fire. After Holt completed a 32-yard pass to Andrew Atkins and a 33-yard touchdown pass to Ross Dixon, the Warriors went for a 2-point conversion and were successful. With the score 31-15, Fallbrook lined up for the onside kick and after the frontline plowed into Eastlake, the second line of Fallbrook came in to recover the ball. Atkins came up with the ball and set the stage for another touchdown pass to Dixon. One more time, the team went for 2 points and Dixon ran the ball around the left corner. Fallbrook had 23 points and another touchdown could tie the game, so they had one more chance to recover an onside kick. This time, Eastlake was better prepared and kept control of the ball, but Fallbrook regained possession with under a minute to play. With 7 seconds left in the game, Fallbrook went for the win but it was not to be; the game clock ticked away, leaving the final score Eastlake 31, Fallbrook 23.

The Fallbrook Warriors had an up and down season that ended on a high note by making the playoffs. The team will be able to build on that success for next year and the future looks bright for Fallbrook Friday nights.