While they had their moments over the course of the game, the Fort Campbell Falcons came up just short in their long trek to Eminence Friday night. Behind their high octane offense, the Warriors were able to pick up the 52-24 win to send the Falcons on the long bus ride home.
The game got off to the best start the Falcons could ask for. After a three and out, the Warriors shanked the punt giving the Falcons the ball at the Eminence 39 yard line. Fort Campbell took advantage of the great field position and drove the ball down the field, capped off by a one yard pass from Matt Middleton to Jordan Edwards to give the Falcons a 6-0 lead with 7:52 to go in the opening quarter.
After another three and out the Falcons again found themselves in great field position. However, the Falcons fumbled the ball away, with the Warriors recovering on the Falcon’s 46 yard line. Eminence took advantage of the turnover as Adriene Bailey caught a 46 yard pass from Justin Hedges to make it 7-6 with 3:17 to go in the quarter.
The Warriors struck again less than three minutes later, this time it was Marshall Metten ripping off a 40 yard run, leaving would be tacklers in his wake, to take it 14-6 with 1:00 to go in the opening quarter.
Eminence was back at it quickly in the second quarter. Dakadrian Saunders caught a 6 yard pass from Hedges to make it 20-6 with 11:13 to go in the half. The Warriors appeared to be about ready to put things away on their next possession as Hedges connected with Jared Yates for an apparent touchdown. However, offensive pass interference was called negating the score. Later in the possesion, Hedges would fumble the ball on a sack, with the Falcons recovering at the Eminence 46 yard line.
Fort Campbell drove the ball down the field with the drive capped off with a four yard pass from Matt Middleton to Nick Williams to cut the lead to 20-12 with 4:08 til the half. Any momentum the Falcons seized there was defused by the Warriors in the final seconds of the half. After a long completion to Saunders moved the Warriors down to the five in the final minute, Hedges found Saunders open for a five yard score with 13 seconds left in the half to make it 26-12 going into the break. Hedges finished the first half with 229 yards and three touchdowns.
The third quarter saw the Falcons turn back two Eminence drives deep into their territory to begin the quarter. However, the Falcons could get nothing sustained going in the other direction to cut into the deficit. The Warriors finally broke through in the quarter when Hedges rolled out to the right and found Bailey again in the right front corner of the end zone to push the lead out to 34-12, with 1:32 to go in the 3rd quarter.
The Warriors then put the game away with another power run from Marshall Metten. This time the “bowling ball” running back powered his way in from 15 yards out to make it 40-12 with 11:22 left in the game.
Following a big kickoff return from Conner Brinkmeyer, the Falcons found paydirt again. Matt Middleton found Nick Williams for the second time on the night, this time from 3 yards out to make it 40-18 with 10:57 left.
The Falcons would get the ball back after a Warrior fumble. The drive, however, would stall out at the Warriors’ 30 yard line. Eminence took the ensuing possession down the field and scored when Hedges hit Jared Yates from 13 yards out to push the lead to 46-18 with 5:56 left.
Less than a minute later, the Falcons hit the end zone again when Matt Middleton scrambled for a 39 yard score to trim the lead to 46-24.
The Warriors would tack on another late game score on a run from Saunders to make it 52-24.
With the loss, the Falcons finish the regular season at 1-9. Fort Campbell will go on the road to Mayfield next Friday night for the first round of the Class 2A playoffs. The two teams met earlier this season with the Cardinals coming away with a 49-0 win. Kickoff is set for 7:00pm at War Memorial Stadium.