Foothill finishes Faith Lutheran, takes control of league — PHOTOS
Faith Lutheran was inside Foothill’s 10-yard line twice in the first half Friday night in a battle of the two top teams in the Class 5A Division II Southern League.
Neither possession ended in points for the Crusaders.
Foothill recovered a pair of Faith Lutheran fumbles deep inside its own territory as the Falcons, ranked No. 4 in the Review-Journal’s 5A rankings, held on for a 28-17 win over the No. 7 Crusaders at Faith Lutheran.
“That’s been the key for us all year, we’ve been bend-but-don’t-break defensively,” Foothill coach Vernon Brown said. “We always come up with those big turnovers.”
With the win, the Falcons (8-1, 5-0) are in the driver’s seat to clinch the No. 1 seed in the 5A Division II Southern League playoffs and get a bye to the region semifinals.
“We just wanted to answer the challenge,” Brown said. “We started out hot, kind of tailed off a little bit. That’s stuff we still need to work on, but overall the kids played well.”
Foothill senior quarterback Mason Dew completed 16 of 27 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns. Tarrell Mack-Lovely racked up 127 receiving yards, and Eugene Altobella rushed for 109 yards for the Falcons.
Faith Lutheran (5-3, 4-1) first fumbled late in the first quarter while trailing 14-3. Crusaders running back Cale Breslin broke off runs of 48 and 32 yards to get the Crusaders to the Falcons’ 9-yard line. But Breslin fumbled on first-and-goal, and Foothill recovered.
The Falcons put together a nine-play, 89-yard drive, capped off by a 5-yard touchdown run from Avant Gates Jr., to lead 21-3.
Faith Lutheran’s next drive ended the same way. At the 1-yard line, Sean Sampson fumbled, and Foothill recovered in the end zone.
“I told the kids it was good, but we have to play a little bit more solid defensively, a little bit more physicality,” Brown said. “But one thing we do pride ourselves on is getting turnovers, and we did that.”
Foothill’s defense came up with two key fourth-down stops in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
With Faith Lutheran trailing by 11 early in the fourth quarter, the Falcons stopped the Crusaders 2 yards short on a completion on fourth-and-17.
Later in the fourth, Foothill sacked quarterback Alex Rogers on a fourth-and-3 with the Crusaders driving. The Falcons controlled time of possession by running the football in the second half to secure the win.
“At the end of the day (the defense) always makes a play,” Brown said. “I get on them, I ride them, but at the end of the day, they always make plays when we need it.”
Breslin gave the Crusaders life in the third quarter when he scored from 14 yards out to cut the deficit to 21-17.
On the ensuing Foothill drive, Brown elected to go for it on fourth-and-9 at Faith Lutheran’s 38-yard line. Dew completed a 10-yard pass to Devon Wake to keep the drive alive. Four plays later, Dew hit Wake on an 11-yard touchdown pass for the Falcons’ final points.
“When it’s fourth and medium, we’re going to pretty much always go for it,” Brown said. “That’s how much confidence we have in our offense. We have a lot of seniors, they’ve been there, done that, and we’ll continue to go to them.”
Foothill struck on its first two drives. Dew threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Stubbs on the opening drive, and a 26-yard score to Chase Kennedy to help put Foothill ahead early.
Caden Chittenden made a 54-yard field goal for Faith Lutheran’s first-quarter points. Rogers threw a 56-yard touchdown pass to Griffin Carty late in the second quarter, and Foothill went into halftime leading 21-10.
Breslin finished with 166 yards for the Crusaders, who finish the regular season at Las Vegas High at 6 p.m. Friday, and Rogers completed 6 of 9 passes for 114 yards and a touchdown.
Foothill plays at Basic in the “Battle for Boulder Highway” at 6 p.m. Friday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.