Since they need to win at least three of their final four games to reach the post-season, the Holbrook Roadrunners’ flickering post-season hopes took a serious hit last Friday night when their 19-0 first half lead ended in a 28-27 home field loss to Alchesay.
The Falcons came into this game with only three wins on the season and were ranked 42nd in the power point standings. After the first two plays it looked as if they were in for a long night in Holbrook.
Wazuri Waits ran for 62 yards on Holbrook’s first offensive play, which was followed by a five-yard touchdown run from quarterback Scottie Gishie, and just like that the Roadrunners were on top 7-0 following Alex Haussman’s point after kick with 11:30 left in the opening frame.
Things got worse for the Falcons when they fumbled the ball away on their first play from scrimmage, giving Holbrook the ball inside the 30 yard line. The Roadrunners capitalized at the 8:19 mark on a six-yard scoring run from Wazuri Waits, making the score 13-0.
Holbrook recovered a pseudo onside kick from Haussman on the ensuing kickoff and with 3:49 left in the first, Lanny Newton-Pender gave the Roadrunners a 19-0 lead on a one-yard plunge.
With 3:47 left in the period the Falcons had run just one offensive play. Once they were able to take care of the ball, they showed they could move down the field with their simple style offense. Alchesay found the end zone with 1:27 left in the first on a 26-yard run by Eric Mitchell, making the score 19-6 heading into the second period.
Gishie connected with Wazuri Waits at the 7:21 mark of the second period on a 15-yard scoring strike, pushing Holbrook’s lead to 27-6 following Gishie’s two-point conversion run. From that point on, however, this game belonged to Alchesay and its clock eating ground attack.
The Falcons closed the gap with 3:29 left in the half on a Geron Beatty 15-yard scoring run.
The Falcons took the ball first in the third period and despite taking more than nine minutes off the clock in the quarter, they were turned away on downs and still trailed 27-12 heading into the fourth.
Holbrook threatened early in the fourth, but the Falcons returned an interception out to the Roadunners’ 25 yard line. Beatty scored on a one-yard run with 5:31 left in the game and with the two-point conversion pass, the score became 27-20 with Holbrook still on top.
They needed to run some time off the clock, but the Roadrunners fumbled at the 50 yard line on their next possession, setting Alchesay up for a late game comeback. The Falcons took over at midfield with 4:50 left in the game and drove down to the one yard line, where on fourth down Beatty again scored, pulling Alchesay within one. When the Falcons’ star running back plunged through the middle for the two-point conversion, the Roadrunners found themselves on the wrong end of a 28-27 score.
With less than a minute left Holbrook made one long pass play, but then went backwards on a pair of sacks and ended the game with an incomplete pass down the field on fourth down.
Gishie completed three of five passes for 38 yards with a touchdown and one interception. Wazuri Waits, Danny Gonzales and Newton-Pender each had one catch, with Waits’ going for a score.
Holbrook finished with 282 yards on the ground led by Wazuri Waits with 96 on five runs. Gishie carried 12 times, picking up 74 yards. Gonzales had nine rushes for 41 yards; Newton-Pender, nine for 58 yards; and Zakhari Waits, five for 13 yards.
Alchesay piled up 340 yards on the ground led by Beatty, who nearly outgained Holbrook on his own, finishing with 222 yards on 31 carries. The Falcons aren’t a flashy team, but they were pretty much unstoppable, gaining chunks of yards while running basically two or three different plays.
The loss dropped the Roadrunners to 3-4 on the season and will certainly drop them down in the power rankings, where they sat at 23rd prior to the game. They will play a struggling St. Johns team on the road on Friday, Oct. 17, then will have to face powerful Round Valley in the following week.
