Stating their case

Falloon’s field goal sends RedHawks to Champaign

By Ken Karrson

Fifty-four weeks after kicking the most important field goal of his prep career against Naperville North, Ben Falloon redefined his biggest moment.

By converting a 23-yard field goal with one second remaining Saturday night, Falloon gave Marist a stately look.

In 2008, the RedHawks used Falloon’s leg to knock off a defending state champion. Now, they’re going to take aim on a title of their own.

When Falloon sailed the ball through the uprights, the kick nailed down a 17-14 Class 8A semifinal win over host Glenbard North at Weber Field in Carol Stream. The Panthers, who had surrendered a total of just three points in their first three postseason confrontations, gave up 10 in the final 2:59 to see their championship dreams dashed.

Meanwhile, Marist (11-2) will be making its first title-game appearance in 23 years. The RedHawks will tangle with Maine South, a 21-14 winner over Loyola Academy in the semis, Saturday at 7 p.m. in Champaign.

“It’s real exciting for the school community,” said Marist quarterback Mike Perish, who threw one touchdown pass and scored another on a 1-yard keeper late in the contest. “I know [the Hawks] are going to be the favorite, but we’ll be trying to do what we can.”

That was all Marist players sought to do versus Glenbard, and that included Falloon, who told a TV reporter RedHawks coach Pat Dunne made sure the kicker didn’t put undue pressure on himself prior to his game-winning attempt.

“He said to just do it the same way we always do it,” Falloon said in the postgame interview. “It’s no different than any of the other kicks.”

Perish said Dunne’s words probably weren’t required.

“He’s always calm,” Perish said of Falloon. “I think we were more nervous than he was.”

Actually, no one on the Marist sidelines exhibited much in the way of stress, even after the Panthers went ahead 14-7 midway through the final period on Evin Natick’s 1-yard TD run.

“A lot of our starters played last year, and we remember us coming back against Naperville North,” Perish said, referring to the RedHawks’ aforementioned second-round tournament success of 2008. “[In that game], we were down two touchdowns with about 3½ minutes to play.”

Dave Pirkle, whose end-zone interception in the waning stages of the third stanza had maintained a 7-all deadlock with Glenbard, returned the kickoff that followed Natick’s touchdown 43 yards to near midfield. A diving catch by Dan Piko picked up 17 yards, and Bill Lundy and Nick Valla also caught passes in the RedHawks’ possession, the latter’s bringing Marist inside the Panthers’ 10. A few plays later, Perish knotted the score at 14.

“That was awesome,” Valla said of the game-tying trek, which featured 10 plays and covered 52 yards. “We faced adversity in different ways the whole year, [but] we work so hard every day as a unit that the defense had a ton of faith in the offense.”

And then the defense stepped forward to place its imprint on the contest’s final moments. Two of the Panthers’ last three plays went backwards, and Jack Hincks’ third-down sack of Glenbard quarterback Tom Traficanti deep in the hosts’ territory meant a punt would come out of the end zone.

Pirkle ran it back 10 yards to the Panthers’ 30, which left the RedHawks in great field position. Another completion to Piko (seven receptions, 111 yards) drove Marist closer to a payoff, and the offense then grew deliberate as it sought to wind the clock down as close to zero as it could before calling on Falloon.

“I was so nervous at the end, but that was so much fun,” Valla said. “We all loved it. Not very many people have an opportunity like this, and I think all the players realize what’s going on and appreciate it.”

The RedHawks’ late flurry ran counter to the game as a whole, which was a defensive struggle much of the way. Marist’s initial series of the evening ended with an interception, but even though it avoided any turnovers until Pirkle’s third-quarter swipe, Glenbard’s offense was no better off than the RedHawks’.

Perish felt the longer the affair stayed scoreless, it would work to the Panthers’ advantage. And when Glenbard broke through on a 42-yard Traficanti-to-Mike Carev pass completion, the home team had seemingly grabbed the momentum with both hands.

However, Perish led Marist downfield in the third frame and capped the march with a 13-yard TD pass to Piko at the 4:28 mark.

“They actually have a pretty good defense and we needed to get our confidence back,” Perish said. “Once we tied it at 7, then we felt we would win. When you see all the work we put in, it wasn’t surprising [to believe that].”

One person who definitely wasn’t shocked by the RedHawks’ demonstration of grit was their coach. All season long, Dunne has praised his athletes for the manner in which they’ve handled everything that’s come their way — both good and bad — without getting caught up in an emotional roller coaster.

“Our guys realize we can’t get to Saturday if we don’t deal [properly] with Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,” he said the day before the showdown with Glenbard. “It comes down to their own will.

“I know them so well and have so much belief in them. They’re highly motivated individuals and they’re never complacent.”

And after the semifinal win was official, Dunne offered a similar sentiment in a brief TV interview.

“People measure height, weight and timed 40s,” he said. “But these guys have got the biggest hearts out there.”

Statistics

Marist                 0  0  7  10  -  17
Glenbard North  0  7   0   7  -  14

                                  MA                    GN
First downs                  14                      12
Yds. rushing                 56                      80
Yds. passing               202                    167
Total yds.                   258                    247
Att./comp                 29-19                    —
Fumbles/lost                0-0                    1-0
Had intercepted             1                        1
Penalties/yds.              1-5                  2-10

Scoring

GN — Mike Carev, 42-yd. pass from Tom Traficanti (Ing kick)

MA — Dan Piko, 13-yd. pass from Mike Perish (Ben Falloon kick)

GN — Evin Natick, 1-yd. run (Ing kick)

MA — Perish, 1-yd. run (Falloon kick)

MA — Falloon, 23-yd. field goal

Marist Passing: Perish 29-19-202. Receiving: Piko 7-111.

This is part of the November 26, 2009 online edition of The Reporter.

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