Fall Mountain Holds on at Home

By Christopher Shaban
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
LANGDON — Fall Mountain managed to win their home opener 14-12, but it was a heart-stopping finish on Friday night before a huge crowd. “This is not over,” yelled Fall Mountain Head Coach Orion Binney to his players just before Epping-Newmarket prepared for an onside kick with less than a minute remaining.

The Wildcats found themselves in a 6-0 hole when Aiden Rossei was a brute and moved a pile of players 10 yards for a score. But the Wildcats would answer back, as Fall Mountain’s special teams would take over the game with smart plays. Zach Patch, who was hobbling from the start of the game, Patch hustled downfield to recover an Epping-Newmarket muffed punt, giving the Wildcats the ball at the 2-yard line. It took one play to tie the game, as Max Vogel followed his line for the quick score, but the extra point missed making the score 6-6. “The line was incredible all night, they were beasts and I just followed them,” said Vogel after the game.

Fall Mountain opted for an onside kick and again the special teams rose up to recover the kick, giving the Wildcats the ball right back with all the momentum on their side of the field. A two headed running monster emerged for Fall Mountain as Vogel and Owen Riendeau took turns ripping off big gains behind a big aggressive offensive line. It took the Wildcats two minutes to march 32 yards, as once again Vogel punched it in for the touchdown before Reindeau would cap off the drive with a run for the two-point conversion that would be huge later in the game. “We were feeling it, our confidence was sky high,” said Riendeau.

As the Fall Mountain defense began to flex its muscle, the strong start from the visitors running game slowed to a crawl but the visitors defense didn’t sit back. With just over five minutes remaining until half, Fall Mountain had their sights set on another score that began with a 25-yard gallop from Riendeau. Brady Dwyer made a great interception for Epping-Newmarket at the goal line that stomped out the Wildcat drive as the half ended with the home team leading 14-6.

The turnover bug hit both teams all night with huge plays for Fall Mountain coming when it mattered most. After a bad snap, Epping found itself with the ball at the Fall Mountain 6-yard line and was looking to tie the game but the hosts had other ideas. Patch stopped the first run with a great open field tackle, then Josh DeVore’s solo tackle had the Wildcats pumped. Porter Willett snuffed out the next run and when the fourth down attempt fell harmlessly to the ground, the Fall Mountain crowd was as loud as it had been all night.

Fall Mountain quickly kicked the ball out of the endzone, giving Epping-Newmarket great field position but when Nate Gallant dropped back to pass, Riendeau broke on the ball and made the pick. The Wildcats gave the ball right back with a fumble as the clock moved under seven minutes as the tension began to rise. Epping opted to go to the air and was grabbing yards and marching downfield, but the Fall Mountain defense again rose to the challenge. Willette came up with the interception. “I saw it the whole time, I made a cut, and the ball was right there,” said Willett. After a FM punt, things became interesting really fast with the clock moving under three minutes as Epping-Newmarket had the ball on their 33-yard line.

A pass interference call moved the sticks while a couple of runs pushed the ball into Fall Mountain territory. Gallant went to the air with three incomplete passes in a row setting up fourth down for Epping-Newmarket with the game on the line. Chris Morgan snuck behind the Wildcats defense and Gallant’s toss was perfect as Morgan used every inch of his frame to make the diving grab for the touchdown in the far corner of the endzone. “Absolutely beautiful catch,” said Binney after the game. Epping needed two points to tie the game, but their pass fell incomplete as Fall Mountain was in celebration mode holding onto a 14-12 lead with 26 seconds showing on the clock, everyone except for Binney.

“Look, they are going to onside kick, let’s be ready for this,” said Binney as his team gathered around their coach. Epping did just what the Fall Mountain coach knew was going to happen, but he didn’t expect the visitors to end up with the ball as the mad scramble ended up under a white jersey with the prize.

The Wildcats were in a total prevent defense and the home crowd as well as the far sideline were as loud as any football game has been in quite a while. Gallant heaved it four times downfield with the last pass falling to the turf with 6.9 second showing as the Fall Mountain celebration began with a hard fought 14-12 win.

“We did what we needed to do tonight, there were so many highlights from the line play to our special teams to Patch gutting it out, this was a total team win,” said Binney after the game.