Late TD strike helps Falcons hold off Skyhawks

Facing fourth-and-3 a with less than three minutes left in Friday’s game, Foothill quarterback Devon Mueller knew he had host Silverado right where he wanted it.

Mueller read the defense, and then threw a strike to Aedan Bartolowitz on a post pattern for a 17-yard gain to the Silverado 1. Te’vion Reed scored on the next play to put Foothill up 22-12 with 2:10 remaining.

The touchdown ended up being the difference in the game, as the Falcons held on to take a 22-18 victory.

Mueller said he knew he and Bartolowitz were on the same page before their big fourth-down conversion.

“Me and Aedan just looked at each other, and we knew we had it,” said Mueller, who threw for 149 yards rushed for another 79 yards. “The safety came down, so we knew we had the post.”

Then with the ball on the 1-yard line, Mueller admitted he wanted to finish the drive off himself.

“When we got down to the 1, I was begging coach for the QB sneak, but he didn’t give it to me,” Mueller said. “But we just got in our heavy look and gave it to our fullback (Reed).”

And that score turned out to be huge, as Silverado’s Deyon McKinney returned the ensuing kickoff 82 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 22-18.

Foothill (3-3) recovered the Skyhawks’ onside kick try, and ran the clock down before punting it back to Silverado’s 18-yard line with 40 seconds left in the game.

The Skyhawks (3-3) drove to their 30, but Foothill finally put Silverado away when Reed came up with a sack of McKinney with five seconds left. Silverado had no timeouts left and the clock ran out.

Bartolowitz had a pair of interceptions to lead the Foothill defense. He set up Foothill’s fourth-quarter touchdown drive with his second interception, as he snared a deep pass by McKinney at the Silverado 47 with 5:32 left and Foothill clinging to a 16-12 lead.

Bartolowitz’s other interception came on the game’s third play and also set up a score. Five plays after the turnover, Bartolowitz caught a 32-yard TD pass from Mueller to give the Falcons a 7-0 lead.

“My coaches did a good job of having me in the right position on the interceptions,” Bartolowitz said. “(McKinney) is really quick, and Silverado is a good team. But our defense was in good position to make enough plays to finish the game.”

Foothill led 7-6 at halftime before Justice Jackson scored on a 13-yard run to cap the Falcons’ seven-play, 70-yard opening drive of the second half to extend the lead to 13-6. Jackson finished the game with 81 yards on 20 carries.

Cory Fisher’s fumble recovery of a bad pitch by Silverado on the next drive set up Mikkel Lestrup’s 25-yard field goal that stretched the Foothill lead to 16-6.

But McKinney and Silverado did not go away quietly. After the field goal made it a 10-point game, McKinney took over at quarterback for the Skyhawks, and scored three plays later on a 54-yard run to trim the deficit 16-12.

McKinney had 24 carries for 141 yards, and had a 20-yard touchdown reception to go with his rushing TD and the late kickoff return for a touchdown.

Even though the game with the Skyhawks was not a league game, Mueller said it could propel the Falcons to a successful run through their league schedule.

“This game really helps us a lot,” Mueller said. “We started out the year slow obviously with a few losses. We had a good game against Eldorado, so we thought if we could come out and beat Silverado, we would start getting some momentum going into our league games. So it was an important win for us.”