SRV quarterback Jack Quigley attempts a pass from his own end zone | Jesus Cano |
OAKLEY, Calif. — After a grueling 49-18 loss to San Ramon Valley, Freedom is off to its worst start in a decade.
In their first home game of the season, the Falcons turned over the ball five times. They conclude non-league play with a 0-5 record, the first time since 2009.
Freedom head coach Andrew Cotter remains optimistic for Freedom.
“I don’t think there’s a whole lot of pressure. We just gotta go to practice, go to work.” said Cotter. “I’m real proud of our kids, they’ve never given up. We’re gonna get this thing right eventually, stay tuned.”
San Ramon Valley (3-1) quarterback Jack Quigley had a big night for the Wolves. The sophomore started the game with two touchdown passes. The first came off a play action pass to Tanner Salisbury in the first drive of the game. After getting hit by Freedom’s Colby Hunter, Quigley didn’t even budge. He stayed up, scrambled and connected with Justin Camera for the second touchdown pass to make it 14-0 in the first quarter.
Jake Byrne connected with Matt Quesada in the second quarter to make it 14-6 Freedom, but when San Ramon Valley decided to play the field position game, it worked out in the Wolves' favor late in the second quarter.
After a punt was downed on the one-yard line, Freedom tried to run out the clock to end the half, but SRV managed to strip the ball and walk into the end zone to make it 21-6 at the half.
It didn’t get better in the second half. On the third quarter kickoff, the Wolves recovered a fumble and scored right after to make it 28-6.
The Falcons weren’t ready to tap out quite yet, however. A Jordan Lee-powered drive saw the junior run for 69 and finish the drive with a 35-yard rushing touchdown. It was 28-18 in the fourth quarter, as Freedom was making the comeback, but then Jordan Lewis returned a kick to the house to make it 35-18 in favor of San Ramon Valley and strip any momentum from the home side.
SRV added two more touchdowns to make the final score 49-18. Quigley ended the night 15-for-22 with 227 passing yards.
“It’s important to come out firing on all cylinders,” said Quigley. “I gotta give it up for my line, without them I wouldn’t be in the spot I am in right now.”
“It was a pretty close game besides a couple of mistakes,” said SRV head coach Aaron Becker. “We were able to capitalize quickly. We can gut it out and win high scoring games.”
Freedom will seek to bounce back versus Liberty on Friday, Sept. 27 in the annual Bell Game, and first BVAL game of the season, while SRV will host Dublin in an EBAL divisional cross-over game.
To visit GameCenter for this game, please click
here
