Despite their struggles throughout the football season, the Fort Campbell Falcons are headed to the Class 2A playoffs. The Falcons punched their playoff ticket with a 28-0 win over Ballard Memorial Friday night in the rain at Fryar Stadum.
The Falcon defense effectively shut down the one dimensional Bomber offense from the very beginning of the contest. Other than a 47 yard run from Trenton Howard on the second offensive play of the game, Ballard could get nothing going on the ground against the Falcons. That, along with the fact that the Bombers had thrown for less than 50 yards on the season coming into the game, made for a bad combination for Ballard.
After missing a couple of opportunities in the first quarter, the Falcons got on the board early in the second. Matt Middleton found Nathaniel Massey from 21-yards out with 10:46 to go in the half to put the Falcons up 7-0.
Just a minute later, Fort Campbell found paydirt again, this time it was Middleton hooking up with Jordan Edwards for a 14 yard score to make it 14-0 with 9:46 to go in the half. The Falcons had another chance to add points late in the half, but Jhony Paniagua’s 28 yard field goal attempt sailed wide left.
In the second half, the Falcons took the kickoff and drove down to the one yard line. However, Fort Campbell fumbled the ball away. Ballard moved the ball out to the 14 but then turned the ball back over to the Falcons with a fumble. This time the Falcons converted as Matt Middleton found Conner Brinkmeyer, who made a spectacular one handed catch going down the middle of the field, from 16 yards to make it 22-0.
Brinkmeyer would cap off a spectacular night in the 4th quarter. With the rain peppering down, Brinkmeyer ripped off a powerful 19 yard run with 4:27 left to finish the scoring and give the Falcons a 28-0 win. He ended the night with 21 carries for 131 yards and two catches for 28 yards.
The Falcons finished the game with 210 rushing yards and 70 yards through the air. The Bombers finished with 103 rushing yards and 30 through the air.
The shutout was the first for the Falcon defense since a 34-0 win over Fort Knox in the 2017 season.
The Falcons improve to 1-8 overall and 1-3 in district play. Ballard Memorial falls to 1-8 and 0-4 in the district. The Falcons will travel to Mayfield to open the playoffs in two weeks.
Up next, the Falcons make the trek to Eminence Friday night to close out the regular season. Kickoff will be at 7:30pm eastern time.