Falcons Click Late in Tuesday Night Thriller

Mulhollon & Company Score 15 in Final 3:20

The last time Central beat Wilmot on a football field George W. Bush was the President. The year was 2007.

On Tuesday night, the Falcons came back to beat the Panthers 37-31 on a leaping Jack Rose touchdown reception with :31 seconds on the clock.

The Falcons limped into the contest with several varsity starters in quarantine, as well as their entire JV squad. “We couldn’t feel sorry for ourselves. We came out on day one and said, ‘There’s no excuses’. We looked around the room, and we said, ‘Yeah, we’re missing some guys’. And we hope they’re back soon. No one is going to feel sorry for us if we come out here on Tuesday and make excuses. It’s gonna be a long night, because Wilmot is coming here to play. They’re excited. This is their opener. They’re fired up. So, all credit to our guys for being tough, and not folding, and feeling down, or sorry for themselves. We got after it today,” said Central head coach Jared Franz.

Both offenses were a little slow to start the game.

Central running back, Jakob Simmons (#42) opened the scoring on a 35-yard TD run halfway through the 1st quarter to give the Falcons a 7-0 lead.

Wilmot dual threat QB, Anthony Hall (#3) started the game. He showed his great speed and elusiveness with some nice runs while avoiding the Falcon pass rush. However, he limped off early in the 2nd quarter, after a Viny Greco (#4) tackle, and the Panthers replaced him with 6’3″ sophomore QB Cooper Zimmerman (#12).

With Zimmerman under center, the Panther offense started to get into a rhythm. He quickly developed a nice rapport with 6’4″ WR Korik Klein (#19) connecting on an 11-yard out-route TD, then hit him again, on a little crossing route, that Klein took 53-yards to the house, and gave the Panthers a 17-7 lead early in the 3rd quarter. Klein finished the night with 163 yards on 9 receptions and scored 2 TDs. Zimmerman would finish the night 12-for-19 with 193 passing yards and 2 TDs, in three quarters of play.

Wilmot head coach, Keiya Square said of Zimmerman, “He knew exactly what our game plan was. He had been taking a lot of reps. Obviously, you never want to lose your starter, but he came in and he threw a lot of good balls, and played really well for us….. A lot of the same game plan. I think, upfront, our guys rallied around him a little bit, and gave him some protection. And they knew he could throw it around, so we didn’t change much.”

Wilmot senior RB, Leo Falletti (#8) started running loose in the second half, and would score his second TD of the night on a 3-yard plunge, giving Wilmot a commanding 31-22 lead with only 5:27 remaining. Falletti would finish the game with 139 rushing yards on 20 carries with 2 TDs.

With a short time remaining, and needing to score twice, the Falcons didn’t panic. Head coach Jared Franz said, “We’re at home in the two-minute offense. So, we were not panicking, or worried, when we were down two scores with five minutes left.”

Falcon QB Michael Mulhollon added, “Our line made a few adjustments, because their linebackers were crashing (in first half), and then in the 4th quarter, they were sitting back, so we could do our rollout.“

Then, on a 3rd-and-20, with only 3:26 remaining, and trailing by 9 points, Mulhollon went to the old rollout, and explained it this way, “They’ve got really good D-linemen. I had a sprint-out to the left, and that linebacker stayed in, and when both corners went with the receiver, it’s an automatic run read for me. And I just got to the middle, where their defense isn’t. Because they are really good out on the perimeter, so I got to the middle, made one cut back ,and from there it was just a sprint to the endzone.”

After the PAT kick Wilmot was still leading 31-29, and ready to receive the ball with 3:20 remaining in the game.

Wilmot just needed to run the ball and pick up a first down.

On 1st-and-10, Falletti ran a sweep that got forced out of bounds, stopping the clock, after a short gain. On 2nd down, Falletti had another short run, and the Falcons used a timeout. Then, on 3rd-and-5, Falcon OLB, and wrestling standout, Jacob Seward (#82) had his biggest takedown of his season, sacking Zimmerman on a rollout, and forcing a 3-and-out.

The Falcons would get the ball back one ore time, with about two-and-a-half minutes remaining.

On the final drive, Mulhollon stuck with the rollout. He dinked-and-dunked some underneath completions to Rose and Zachary Kazumura (#22) who both were able to get out of bounds to stop the clock. Then Mulhollon kept the next two rollouts, and the Falcons suddenly had 2nd-and-goal from the five-yard line.

That set up the winning play of the game.

Mulhollon said, “I had the option to hand that ball off to Jakob, or throw it to Jack, and we were on the left hash. It was Jack, on that whole side, by himself, so I just threw it up where the other kid couldn’t get it. So, if Jack would’ve dropped it, it would’ve been just incomplete. Or, Jack’s going to go up and catch the ball.”

Rose outjumped the Panther defensive back and came down with the clutch 5-yard TD reception. A 2-point conversion pass to Kenny Garth (#7) would make the score 37-31 with only :31 seconds left in the game.

The Panthers had one chance left, and it was obvious they’d have to pass. Free safety Conner Grinde (#9) intercepted a deep Zimmerman pass to end any Wilmot comeback.

Final score = Central 37 Wilmot 31

Wilmot will host Delavan-Darien on Saturday.

Central will host Union Grove on Saturday.

I can’t believe that George Bush was President the last time Central beat Wilmot.