It hasn’t been an easy season for the Florence Falcons, just like with any team in the state this year. But having to go into quarantine two weeks before the playoffs made everyone a bit nervous.
“We had remote practices,” said coach Pat Duchien. “We watched a lot of film and my coaches came up with workouts for them to do but it’s not anything like being there in person.”
After winning last weekend against Conrad, the Falcons were faced with Townsend, the No. 2 seed from the South. Unlike other classifications, Class B will play their championship game on November 21 as there are more Class B schools. This game against Townsend was a quarterfinal game.
Florence took the 28-7 win but it was a tough game according to Duchien. He said the Bulldogs stymied the Falcon offense in the first half and they had a difficult time getting going.
“Their starting quarterback got hurt in practice so they had their backup quarterback playing. But they have two really good quarterbacks.”
Duchien said Johnny Chamberlin did a great job of defending their all state receiver and that was huge. “Our defense did play phenomenal. They only had about 45 yards on offense.”
The Falcon offense spread out the field by running and throwing the ball. Quarterback Pat Duchien, Jr., finally put up some yards rushing. He carried the ball 15 times for 95 yards and one touchdown. He was 14 of 25 in the air for 133 yards and one touchdown. Levi Posey was one of Duchien Jr.’s targets. He had 105 yards receiving and caught two touchdown passes. Blake Shoupe had 60 yards receiving. For the final touchdown of the game, Shoupe took a handoff and then threw 66 yards to Posey for the six points.
“Hat’s off to the D-line, and to all of the defense,” said coach Duchien. “It was a hard fought game. Townsend is a great program. It was a good, clean game. The referees did an awesome job of just taking care of the game.”
Florence will now travel to Fairfield to take on the Fairfield Eagles, the No. 1 seed in the North. Florence is 0-2 at Fairfield and Duchien is hoping to turn that around. “They have such a legacy of a championship program. They are so dang disciplined. We can’t have mistakes when we play them.”