Believed to be the first time in the history of the Flanagan Falcon football program, a varsity game was scheduled to be played in Gods glorious sunshine as opposed to the lights of a Friday night. Forty years ago today, the Falcons traveled to Stronghurst in western Illinois to take on the Southern Rebels in an IHSA quarterfinal game with a kickoff time slated at 1:30 in the afternoon. Coach Roger Zehrs squad had to make an early departure from Flanagan, making sure to allow for the near-three hour bus trip and the need to stop for food. Upon arriving at the Southern field, however, it was business as usual during warm-ups. Well, that is, business as usual except for some poor-taste teasing and mocking that was being conducted by some Southern players who apparently lacked any shred of human decency. According to co-captain, Maurie Duffy, some of the Southern players became aware of the Falcons manager, Dirk Anderson, performing his duties during the pre-game, and they decided to have some fun at his expense. They were mocking him... making jokes... and, you know, we all loved Dirk, said Duffy. Thats what did them in; that pissed us off! So that, friends, is how Dirk Anderson helped get the Flanagan Falcons fired up for the quarterfinal contest (see previous post on Birk and Dirk from November 8th). Dirk simply took one for the team. Except that the extra adrenaline, as it will sometimes do, might have been responsible for three Flanagan turnovers in its first three possessions. Coach Zehr, however, would later blame the blunders on a case of the nerves. We were really tight that first quarter, said Zehr. The three turnovers forced the defense to have its act together from the start. After the first Falcon fumble, the Rebels took over on the Flanagan 23 yard line, but the possession ended on the third play when a Southern back fumbled and Duffy recovered it for the Falcons. But the Falcon offense gained nothing but field position on their second possession as another fumble was recovered by Southern on their own 43. Southerns second possession resulted in a re-gain of that field position, but the Rebel drive finally stalled on downs at the Falcon 19. After the third Flanagan turnover on its third possession, the Rebels again were denied points as Jim Braksick intercepted a pass and returned it deep into Rebel territory. A clipping penalty on the Braksick return gave the Falcons possession at the Rebel 28, but three plays later the offense faced a fourth down and 10, still on the 28. A Braksick pass to Kevin Bertsche was right on the money for a 25 yard gain down to the three yard line, and two plays later Gregg Gundy scored from the one. The Falcon lead was 6-0 due to a blocked PAT. But Southern was beginning to put it together on offense, and it managed to drive the ball to the Falcon nine yard line where, again, the Falcon D stepped up and denied a Rebel fourth down play. Those opportunities were the turning point, stated Southern head coach Will Bavery. We had them on the ropes and couldnt push it in. From that point, however, the Falcons had no trouble pushing it in. From its nine yard line, the Flanagan offense put together one of its best scoring drives of the season, going 91 yards on seven plays, with the capper coming on a 26 yard run through the middle by Kent Schwerin. A two-point conversion attempt failed and the score stood at 12-0. Later in the quarter, Craig Smith gobbled up a Southern fumble on the Rebel 34 to give the Falcons one more try for points before halftime. After a loss in yardage, the Falcons set up a dipsy-doodle play (according to the Streator Times Press) from the 40. Braksick gave the ball to Schwerin who began to run to the right end of the Falcon line before passing back to Braksick who caught the halfbacks pass and raced Southern defenders to the goal line for a 19-0 lead after the Schwerin kick. The Rebels opened the second half with an onside kick, attempting to catch the Falcons off guard. But the ball only went three yards and Flanagan was able to start from the 43. Two plays later, Schwerin took the ball on a counter play and scored from 27 yards out for a 26-0 lead. Gundy sealed the game on the next possession with a 36 yard run to make it 33-0. From there, the teams traded touchdowns. Flanagans scores came on another Braksick interception, this one going all the way back 29 yards for a TD. Kevin Bertsche answered a second Southern score with a seven yard rush to make the final score 46-12. Flanagan out-gained Southern by a 470 to 225 margin, with the big discrepancy coming in rushing yards, 366 to 151. The Falcons, however, were penalized for 116 yards on the day, compared to only 20 for Southern (if you take a big whiff, you might just be able to smell the home-cookin). First Flanagan football game in the sunshine was successful; the Falcons and their fans would hope there might be a total of three sunshine games. Ironically, in 1974, there were three Americas Top 40 songs having to do with sunshine. Seasons in the Sun, by Terry Jacks; Sundown, by Gordon Lightfoot; and Sunshine on My Shoulders, by John Denver (Im actually more of a Rocky Mountain High guy, myself...).
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 23:24:38 +0000
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