Many coaches have said you learn more from losing, if that is the case the Foothills Falcons have learned some valuable lessons over the past two weeks.
For the second week in a row the Tier II Falcons lost a lopsided affair dropping a 51-7 decision to the powerful Tier I Harry Ainlay Titans from Edmonton.
Falcons slotback Taylor Brooks was disheartened in the loss, but said it will prove valuable when the team kicks off the regular season on Sept. 16 against their archrivals from Holy Trinity Academy.
“This was a learning experience for us,” said Brooks, who was one of the lone bright spots for the Falcons. “We need to check in mentally. When you get one bad break you still have to execute.”
Early on the Falcons looked poised to give the Titans a match.
Edmonton scored on their second play of the game on a 26-yard run by Aundrey Webster to take a 7-0 lead, but the Falcons responded on their next drive.
On third and short from inside the Titans’ 20-yard line the Falcons elected to gamble and Brooks made the gamble pay off turning up field for a 16-yard scoring run to tie the game at seven.
Showing some early success should have given the Falcons a lift, but after Brooks’ touchdown run Edmonton’s defence nailed down Foothills’ fly offence.
Brooks said some of the onus for their lack of success for the remainder of the game was an inability to refocus after taking a blow.
“In the first series we were able to execute and we tried to be positive, but once we started to fall behind we weren’t able to reset.”
Titan linebacker Kieran Thomas said their defence was caught off guard by the Falcons’ fly offence, but they were able to make adjustments after the Falcons’ opening scoring drive.
“I have to give them credit they did catch us off guard and they surprised us,” said Thomas. “We just had to do our job on defence, work together and keep focuses. Bend but don’t break was our attitude.”
The Titans’ attitude on defence paid off as the Falcons’ offence was not able to get on track for the remainder of the game.
On offence, Edmonton’s veteran offensive line proved too much for the Falcons’ young defensive group. Two highlights for the Falcons were back-to-back sacks by linebacker Cody Thompson and lineman Thomas Kurth.
The Titans kept the Falcons off balance by using a mix of effective swing passes and runs up the middle by Webster who finished with two touchdowns.
Webster said they rely on their offensive line to set the tone.
“Our offensive line did a great job up front,” he said. “They are a good, experienced offensive line that has been together for a while.”
Webster said the Titans did not lose their composure after the Falcons scored on their opening drive. They stuck to their game plan which was to mix in the short passes to the perimeter with the power running game.
Falcon senior Brendon Bird said they do not want to forget the loss to Harry Ainlay, if anything they want to use it as a learning tool.
“We knew they were a good team and we learned from this loss,” he said. “We learned how to react when things don’t go your way. We need to be prepared and stick together.”
The Falcons will try and put those lessons to work on Sept. 16 when they host the Holy Trinity Academy Knights in the opener of the Big Rock Football League at 7 p.m.
