A frustrating start turned on a dime for the Foothills Falcons.
Foothills scored on the final play of a stalemate first half and didn’t look back from there to chase the Bishop O’Byrne Bobcats 28-12 Friday night in Okotoks to pick up its first home win of the high school football season.
“We didn’t start how we wanted to start so having that right before we go into half gives us that little bit of momentum,” said Falcons quarterback Emerson Liepert. “And then you see at the start of the second half, we score immediately.
“It showed us that we can do this.”
Liepert scrambled out of the pocket and connected with receiver Chase Brockhoff in the back of the end zone to close the half in style after the team was knocking on the door on several drives through two quarters.
“It felt like it was going to happen at some point, just had to catch the ball and we did,” said Falcons head coach St. Dennis. “We knew guys were open, we knew we had plays and that it was there, it was just a matter of making the plays and we were just off a bit.
“That was the fix, the boys found a way to make plays.”
In the second half, Falcons runningback Ethan Johnson scored on a 70-yard run up the gut on the second play from scrimmage.
Liepert scored on two short yardage goalline runs, both set up in part by key receptions from Asher Nelson, to round out the attack.
The Grade 12 signal caller said the offence did find its rhythm, but the team did leave points on the board.
“They played hard, respect to them, but I felt like we should have had a few more,” he said.
The Falcons, provincial finalists last season, have a younger squad in 2024 with just a dozen seniors and a Grade 11 heavy roster.
“Football is a lot more of a mental game than people think,” added Liepert. “So it takes some time for us to start clicking and to get that rapport with each other.
“It takes some time, but we’re getting there slowly, but surely.”
St. Dennis said it was a nice bounce back effort following a tough loss to the Cardston Cougars in last weekend’s home opener.
“We said we had to fix it and getting this win is fixing it,” he said. “The major theme of the whole season is just getting better each game.
“It’s going to be big for these kids to have this at home, to see what it feels like and then go from there.”
Next up for Foothills is a road game across town.
The Falcons head northeast to Knights field on Sept. 19 for the annual Battle of Okotoks against the Holy Trinity Academy Knights.
