Falcons best Hawks with 4th quarter surge

By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 13 October 2018 at 6:05 pm

Photos by Cheryl Wertman- Holley’s Jamel Hildreth, who scored on three long touchdown plays, works to get away from a tackle by CG Finney’s Maalik Thomas during the visiting Falcons win over the host Hawks this afternoon.

A quick two touchdown scoring burst in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter keyed C.G. Finney to a 52-32 victory over host Holley this afternoon in an 8 man football game.

Trailing 32-30, Finney regained the lead for good at 38-32 on a 20 yard touchdown run by Maalik Thomas just six seconds into the final quarter.

The Falcons quickly upped the advantage to 46-32 just 1:10 later on a 64 yard TD burst by Thomas. That tally came on the first play from scrimmage after the Falcons recovered a Hawks fumble at the Finney 36.

Holley’s Cody Tanis catches a touchdown pass.

Finney then put a lock on the win when Thomas scored on a 25 yard touchdown run with 6:46 remaining to make it 52-32. Again that score came off a lost Holley fumble.

The Falcons also got off to a fast start building up a 16-0 lead in the first eight minutes on touchdown runs of 6 yards by Xavier Smith and 71 by Thomas.

Holley got on the scoreboard when Jamel Hildreth returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown but Finney got that one right back on a 12 yard TD run by Smith with 56 seconds to go in the quarter to make it 22-6.

The Hawks though again battled back on a 75 yard touchdown pass from Tony Farruggia to Hildreth on the final play of the opening quarter to cut the deficit to 22-12.

The sea-saw scoring battle continued five minutes into the second quarter when the Falcons increased their lead to 30-12 on a 20 yard touchdown run by Smith.

However, Holley came storming back with three straight scores to rally into a 32-30 lead at the half.

Hildreth ignited that scoring surge when he returned the ensuing kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown.

Farruggia then hooked up with Cody Tanis for a 16 yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 30-26 as Hildreth tacked on the two-point conversion run.

Matt Hahn then capped off the Hawks big comeback when he recovered a fumble and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown and a 32-30 Holley lead with 1:01 to go in the wild half.

Neither team could find the end zone in the third quarter setting the stage for Finney’s big burst of three unanswered touchdowns in the final stanza to rally for the win.

Holley, which next visits Oakfield-Alabama/Elba on Friday, slips to 1-4 while Finney is 2-3. OAE belted Marcus Whitman 75-14.