Box Score

New Falcon football Coach Matt Walker returned to his home state of Indiana on Saturday to face No.22 Trine University in Angola, Ind.  The Falcons had many early opportunities, but a few costly mistakes and big plays from Trine led to their second consecutive defeat, 42-20.

The Falcons dominated the first 27 minutes of the game in every aspect, except on the scoreboard.  Trine had the top scoring offense in the nation in 2010 as they advanced to the NCAA Playoffs for the third straight season.  With three minutes to go in the first half, the Falcons held the Thunder offense to just 13 yards on 13 plays and one first down. However, the scoreboard read 14-3 in favor of the home team.

“The game was very similar to last week's game against St. Thomas,” said Walker. “We have to start finding ways to win. Trine had a good game plan, but we shot ourselves in the foot again. But at the same time I am encouraged with some of the numbers we put up.”

On the opening drive, the Falcons marched down the field at ease behind the legs of Taylor Edwards (Janesville, WI, Parker). The senior tailback took the ball four times on the opening series for 43 yards to put the Falcons in the red zone, which set up a Chad Blair (Oakdale, MN, Tartan) 36 yard field goal.

Edwards' first two carries went for 18 and 13 yards, respectively, which set the tone for the game.  The Trine defense had no answer to Edwards as he rushed for 240 yards on 34 carries and one score. The 240 yards is the third 200-yard game of his career.

“I thought we had great efforts from both our offensive and defensive lines,” Walker continued. “Taylor's big game was because our line was moving the pile and giving Taylor a chance to run. I have to give credit to the offense on how hard they are playing.”

 Following the Blair field goal, the ensuing kickoff was returned 89 yards by Ja Vontae Hence to give Trine a 7-3 lead with their high-powered offense yet to see the field. Hence is one of the top all-around players in the nation as he is averaging 195 all-purpose yards per game, he added 89 the first time he touched the ball on Saturday.

The Falcons offense bounced back, marching 73 yards on 11 plays down to the Trine two yard line. On first-and-goal Edwards coughed up the ball and Trine recovered in the end zone, killing the Falcon drive.

Ahead 7-3, the Trine offense finally took the field with a few minutes remaining in the first quarter. Ryan Hargraves is one of the top passers in the nation with a quarterback rating of 187.8, but had his worst performance of the year against the Falcons defense. Hargraves first pass attempt of the game was picked off by Matt Ainsworth (Maple Grove, MN, Osseo)giving the ball back to the Falcons.

Inside the red zone again, the Falcons came away empty handed as a fake field goal from the 16 yard line allowed Trine to takeover.  The Falcons visited the red zone each of their first three possessions, but were only able to come away with three points.
Early in the second quarter, the Falcons regained momentum with another long drive deep into Trine territory.  Once again the Trine defense came up big as Myron Puryear forced and recovered a fumble at the 29 yard line and took it 71 yards for a score to put the Thunder up 14-3.  Trine led the nation in turnover margin in 2010 and Puryear's fumble return was the third defensive touchdown in as many games in 2011.

“Costly turnovers hurt us again,” said Walker, “And the turnovers turned into 21 instant points for Trine. But again, we had a two-score game in the second half so we had a great effort by our players.”

In last year's meeting, Trine ran for 331 yards on the Falcon defense, but through the first 35 minutes the Falcons had the Thunder rushing attack in negative yardage. That changed in the blink of an eye as Kent Biller doubled the Trine offensive production with a 94 yard touchdown run. Up to that point the Thunder had just 89 total yards. Biller also added a 30 yard run in the final quarter to put the game out of reach.

Early in the fourth quarter, the special teams unit did something that has not been done by the Falcons for seven years. Charles Dixon (River Falls, WI, South Dakota State) blocked a punt and Brad Beeskow (Andover, MN, St. Cloud State) ran it in 25 yards for the score.  The last blocked punt returned for a touchdown for the Falcons was in 2002 against Eau Claire.

Beeskow also filled in for Edwards at halfback and picked up 39 yards on six carries. The Falcons ran for 276 yards and outgained Trine 471 to 421 in the losing effort.

The Falcons defense forced three turnovers in Saturday's loss. Ainsworth had the early pick along with eight tackles, while Mike Cano (Glencoe, MN, Glencoe-Silver Lake) picked up his first interception of his career in the second half.

Nate Smits (Hudson, WI, Hudson) had a team-best nine tackles and forced a fumble, which was recovered by Chris Aeschliman (Downing, WI, Boyceville). Jake Mandoza (New Brighton, MN, Irondale) had 2.5 tackles behind the line and his first sack of the year.
B.J. Letourneau (Falcon Heights, MN, Roseville) and Nate Brandt (Lakefield, MN, Jackson County Central) were coming off a career games last week. Letourneau threw for 112 yards against Trine, finding Brandt four times for 88 yards.  John Wahlstrom (Hastings, MN, Hastings) was the main target in Saturday's loss as he set a career-high with 11 receptions.

Up next, the Falcons travel to Eau Claire for a non-conference game with the Blugolds. The Falcons have just one win in the their last 14 games, which came at Carson Park last year as the Falcons defeated Eau Claire 45-42 in the season finale.  Kickoff is at 1 p.m., at Carson Park.

Box Score