East County Game of the Week: Torrey Pines Falcons 28, Steele Canyon Cougars 7
Our Week 1 El Cajon Ford East County Game of the Week featured the first ever matchup between the Steele Canyon Cougars and the Torrey Pines Falcons. It promised to be a tough first test for the young cougars, who named Sophomore Thomas Fishburne their starting quarterback earlier in the week.
The Falcons drew first blood on the opening drive. Matthew Feeler had a nice gain deep in Cougar territory and drew a facemask penalty which put Torrey Pines in a first a goal situation. A few plays later Jacob Montes took it in from one yard out and the Falcons went up 7-0.
Montes had an almost identical one yard TD run on the Falcon’s next drive to make the score 14-0.
In the second quarter Steele Canyon’s Wayne Barela recovered a Falcon fumble on the Cougar’s 10 yard line. Fishburne led his team down the field, connecting with Carrington Trisby for a 30 yard gain. However, the Cougar’s field goal attempt came up short.
With 27 seconds left in the half Falcon QB Caden Kelly found Lukas Braun for a 30 yard touchdown to make it 21-0.
Pierre Alexander returned the ensuing kickoff to the Falcon’s 27 yard line, but Tristen Alesi got a hand on the Cougar’s field goal attempt.
Both offenses struggled to get things going in the third quarter. Alesi snagged an interception late in the fourth and returned it to the six yard line. Daniel Jackson took it in a few plays later for the Falcons to bring their lead to 28-0.
With just under two minutes to play the Cougars got the ball back. RB Coach Josh Barney grabbed his guy Malcolm Anders and said “you’re going in at running back. Score a touchdown.” Anders did just that, capping the drive with a 10 yard score. However, it wasn’t enough to tame the Falcons and Torrey Pines notches the first victory of this match up, 28-7.
PREVIEW: The Steele Canyon Cougars host the Torrey Pines Falcons in our Week 1 El Cajon Ford East County Game of the Week. It is the first match up for these two Division I teams, and one that 4th year Cougar Head Coach Scott Longerbone was excited to add to his squad’s schedule. “I like to have a tough opponent right out of the gates,” said Longerbone, “it exposes your weaknesses early and gets you coaching.”
The Cougars have a lot of new faces this year. The quarterback battle is coming down to the wire between Sophomore Thomas Fishburne (2014 Freshman starter) and Junior Brenden Willis (2014 JV Starter). Whoever wins the job will be well protected behind a massive O-Line. Also benefiting from the line’s size will be the trio of Cougar running backs (Malcolm Anders, Sean Todd and Pierre Alexander) that Longerbone says will make this year’s offense more of a “ground and pound attack” than Steele Canyon offenses of the past.
Ron Gladnick returns for his second year as Head Coach of the Falcons, who finished 6-5 in 2014. Always a solid program, the Falcons look to challenge the young Cougar defense with their wing-t offense. Longerbone adding that the Falcons’ style is to “come at you, and you have to be ready to play”.
The Falcons will have to be ready themselves, for the notorious East County heat. They will depart the coastal breezes in Carmel Valley for Spring Valley where the estimated high for Friday is currently hovering around 95 degrees.
