Falcons hold off late charge by Silverado

Foothill's football team appeared to be on its way to an easy win Thursday before having to hold on for a 48-43 victory over visiting Silverado.

Already running away with the game, Nick Gardner connected with David Persi on a 57-yard TD pass to cap a nine-play, 82-yard drive early in the fourth quarter to push the lead to 45-21. The score seemingly put away the game away for the Falcons (1-1), but the Skyhawks (0-2) scored on their next drive with 6:54 left on a 10-yard run by Jarrett Alipio, then put home a 2-point pass from Mitchell Ballard to Alex Aragon to make it 45-29.

On the second play of Foothill’s ensuing drive, an errant snap recovered by Silverado gave the Skyhawks life. In only three plays, Alipio scored from 1 yard out, then converted for two points to put the score at 45-37.

Cory Fisher hit a 48-yard field goal for Foothill to make it 48-37, but Silverado drove 72 yards on its next drive, which was helped by a Foothill pass interference call on fourth down deep in Falcons territory. On the next play, Ballard found Austin Hunt from 11 yards out to make it 48-43, with the missed 2-point conversion.

The Skyhawks had one last shot with 11 seconds left as Ballard found Alipio downfield for a 37-yard completion, but he was tackled immediately as the clock ran out.

Nick Gardner led the Falcons’ air attack with 244 yards on 21-of-27 passing and four touchdowns.