The Falcon faithful were out in full support Saturday afternoon to watch their beloved Falcons fall to Stout 24-7 on homecoming weekend. More than 2,400 spectators packed into Ramer Field and fought the bitter winds to watch the Falcons square off with their longest standing rival in the WIAC.
In John O' Grady's final homecoming game the Falcons were unable to give him a victory, falling to the Blue Devils for the fourth consecutive season. Across the field, Stout first-year coach Clayt Bermingham picked up his first WIAC victory. Bermingham is well-known for his strong defensive schemes and this year will be no different. The Blue Devils rank second in the WIAC in total defense while allowing a measly 12.7 points per game.
As tough as the Blue Devils defense has been, they still had no answer for the WIAC's leading rusher. Falcons halfback Taylor Edwards (Janesville, Parker) extended his streak to five games of rushing over the century mark. Edwards took the ball 27 times for 105 yards and scored the Falcons lone touchdown on a 16-yard scamper midway through the third quarter.
The Falcons defense looked sharp early in the contest, shutting out the Blue Devils while holding them to just two first downs through the first 20 minutes. But a series of misfortunes ultimately led to the demise of the Falcons.
Early in the second quarter, a poor snap on a punt attempt led to a turnover on downs and gave the Blue Devils offense a shortened field. It took just six plays for Stout to march the 27 yards to open the scoring on a Ross Carey 13 yard toss to Pat Mengelkoch.
Later in the same period, the Falcons defense forced a fourth-and-three situation for the Blue Devils at the 28 yard line. Stout, out of field goal range, elected to go-for-it and extended the drive by converting the first down. This led to a Stout field goal to put the Blue Devils up 10-0 at the half.
Into the second half the bad luck continued. Down 10-7, Lincoln Bjorklund (Nicolett, MN, Sibley East) forced a fumble in Stout territory, but the ball landed in the hands of the Blue Devils to allow them to retain possession. Later in the drive, the Falcons stopped Stout on a third-and-five situation but a pass interference call negated the stop and allowed the Blue Devils to keep marching all the way to the end zone to take a 17-7 lead.
The knockout punch came on the ensuing drive as the Falcons were deep into Stout territory. On a fourth-and-two attempt from the 22 , Stout's Trevor Steige forced a fumble putting an end to any hopes of a Falcon comeback.
Defensivley, the Falcons played well enough to win but did not catch any breaks.Brady Luebke (Mayer, MN, Mayer-Lutheran) led the way for the defense with 16 tackles and breaking up a pass. Bjorklund added 11 stops along with the forced fumble. Ryan Bartsch (Cameron, Cameron) brought the crowd to their feet with his first sack of the year, coming in the first quarter bringing Carey down for a 15-yard-loss.
The loss drops the Falcons to 0-5 overall and 0-2 in the WIAC, whereas the Blue Devils win their third straight game improving to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the conference. This defeat marks the seventh straight loss for River Falls dating back to last fall, the longest such streak since 1970.
Up next, the Falcons head to La Crosse for their first appearance in the new Veterans Memorial Field Complex. Kickoff is at 1:00 PM on Saturday afternoon.
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