Following a 21-3 win over Santa Cruz in last week’s Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League opener, the Falcons host another Friday night contest against Harbor for the school’s homecoming.
The Pirates are 2-4 overall and 0-2 in league play this year, coming off lopsided losses to Aptos and Soquel in their previous two games. Harbor has had eight losing seasons in a row and has one of the smaller rosters in the SCCAL, but fans should see a wide-open contest Friday, Oct. 16, given the Pirates’ pass-happy offense and porous defense, which has allowed an average of 30 per game the past two years.
Harbor junior quarterback Matt Armstrong has amassed 1,263 passing yards so far this season, ranking him third in aerial yardage among the 27 teams in the Monterey Bay region. His most prominent targets are seniors Jake Pruger and Vince Dempewolf, who have more than 1,000 receiving yards and nine touchdown catches between them.
The Falcons faced and overcame a similar challenge last week when they shut down Santa Cruz quarterback Peter Miller and the rest of the Cardinal offense, holding them to only 170 total yards.
The Falcons got off to their usual slow start on offense. Despite scoring on a 4-yard run from Jake Bergman after the opening kickoff was fumbled, they otherwise stayed off the scoreboard through halftime, when they led 7-3.
“(At the break), the coaches reminded us to remember our plan and to keep playing hard,” said Falcons defensive lineman David Nice, who had a fumble recovery along with several tackles on the night. “Our conditioning kept us strong in the second half.”
The Falcons opened it up from there, as Bergman punched across another run from four yards out to make it 14-3.
Quarterback Blake Jurich later connected with Aldin Barrett for a 76-yard scoring strike in the fourth quarter, part of Barrett’s 120 yards receiving on five catches for the evening.
Bergman finished with 79 yards rushing on 18 carries, and Jurich was 11-for-20 with 189 yards through the air.
The Falcons continue to impress area observers — they climbed to No. 13 in the San Jose Mercury News Central Coast Section Top 15 football rankings. They began the season at No. 15.
