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By Joel Frady
A cold rain blanketed the football field of Forbush High School
on Friday night, creating difficult field conditions
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for the first half of the conference match-up between the
Forbush Falcons and Ashe County. The offense for both teams
proved to be just as cold as the weather - they combined for
six turnovers and the lone score was a 30-yard Durry Russell
field goal in the first quarter that gave Forbush a 3-0 advantage
at the half.
"We were terrible in the first half, and Forbush has a
lot to do with that," said Ashe County Head Coach Bill
Strong. "They came out and stuck it to us. They controlled
the ball offensively. We didn't block anybody. We couldn't hold
on to the football. We had snap issues.
"Offensively, we were a mess in the first half," he
continued. "We didn't do anything well."
The rain slowed down during the second quarter and had stopped
completely by the beginning of the third quarter. Despite their
offensive struggles in the first half, the Huskies didn't waste
any time turning their offensive frown upside down.
Jeren Holman provided the big play the team had been missing.
On second and six from the Forbush 49, Holman sprinted for 46
yards for the first down and got the remaining three on the
next play to give Ashe County a 7-3 lead.
"Jeren's been doing a good job running the football,"
said Strong. "He has really stepped up and run the football
very well."
The score was the same midway through the fourth quarter when
Holman found another large hole, running 36 yards to the Forbush
23. The Falcons then committed two personal foul penalties and
an offsides, setting up Husky running back Aaron Scott for a
2-yard touchdown and a 14-3 lead.
The defense also stepped up, holding Forbush to only 72 yards
offensively in the second half after allowing 144 in the first.
The Falcons didn't even manage to get the ball across the 50-yard-line
until they were down by 11 at the end of the fourth quarter,
but the Husky defense forced a fourth-down at the 41 to seal
the victory.
Strong said that ball control was a key to the comeback.
"In the first half, they had the ball all the time,"
said Strong. "In the second half, we had it some. He noted
that the team's game plan didn't change much for the second
half, and that he asked the team to "play like we can play"
at halftime.
"I still don't think we did," he said, "but we
played a lot better than we did in the first half."
Ashe County also saw the return of first-string quarterback
Daniel Waln, who hasn't played since injuring his foot in practice
after the team's week two win over West Caldwell. He entered
the game in the second quarter and completed four of 10 passes
for 66 yards.
"We wanted to see what Daniel could do," Strong said
of Waln's return. "It's certainly good to have him back.
Hopefully, we can take advantage of his presence and do some
other things with him."
The win moves Ashe County to 3-0 in conference action. Their
schedule gets more difficult with a home game against Starmount
(also 3-0) and a game at Wilkes Central, the team Ashe County
has shared the Mountain Valley title with the past two seasons.
"We got one right now," Strong said when asked about
the schedule. "We're not worried about the second one,
we have to take care of the business in the first one.
"We've got to get better if we're going to compete"
with Starmount, he later noted. "They're a good football
team and we've got to execute and stop shooting ourselves in
the foot."
The Huskies' match-up against Starmount will kick-off at 7:30
p.m. on Friday, Oct. 24, at Ashe County High School
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