Next! Falcons Plucked

Trailing by one point at halftime, Hernando Christian Academy head football coach David Raley got his team together at halftime and laid down the law to them. In fact, he did it so well that the 5-0 Lions shut out Bradenton-St. Stephen's Episcopal in the second half to take an 18-7 win over the Falcons Friday afternoon.
St. Stephen's (3-2) led in the first quarter on a 2-yard touchdown run by quarterback Logan Zoller before HCA got a 25-yard scoring pass from David Rotteveel to Ian Townsend midway through the second quarter to make it 7-6.

The turnaround

But after a long talk from their coach, the Lions came out and dominated the second half, holding St. Stephen's scoreless and picking off two Falcon passes in the fourth quarter to give the Lions 14 interceptions on the year.
"We were walking around like a bunch of zombies in the first half and I wasn't going to have it and we snapped out of it," said Raley.
HCA forced five turnovers in the game as Townsend recovered a fumble in the first half to set up the first HCA score while Jake Foster and Townsend each intercepted St. Stephen passes in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
"They beat us bad," said Falcon coach Matt Kitchie. "They beat us physically and we didn't have a whole lot of answers. They gained the momentum in the second half and we couldn't regain it or stall them. But that's what a good football team does."
The Falcons opened the scoring in the first quarter, putting together a 16-play, 71-yard drive that was capped by a two-yard run by Zoller. Matthew Unzicker kicked the point-after to give St. Stephen's a 7-0 lead with 1:57 left in the first quarter.
HCA came back in the second quarter for their first score.
After Townsend recovered a fumbled punt by the Falcons on their own 24, Rotteveel hit Townsend with a 25-yard scoring pass. Kenny Lehman's point-after sailed wide left at the Lions trailed 7-6 with 4:31 left in the first half.
In the second half, everything was different as HCA scored on its opening possession of the third quarter. They marched 57 yards in eight plays, with Townsend hauling in a 24-yard TD pass from Rotteveel. Jeremy Knight's run for the two-point conversion was stopped and the Lions went ahead by five points.
The Lions had one chance to put the game away as a bad snap on a punt gave them the ball on the Falcon three.
But Nate Kaustsky fumbled on the first play and St. Stephens recovered.
Then with 3:01 left in the game, the HCA defense, which held St. Stephens to just 181 yards of total offense in the game, forced a Falcon punt.
On first down Knight rumbled around right end for a 60-yard touchdown. On the PAT, Rotteveel fumbled the snap and was stopped trying to run it in.
However, the Lion defense shut the door on the Falcons as Foster and Townsend each intercepted passes in the final three minutes to push HCA to a perfect 5-0 mark.
"Things just seem to be working for us. I don't know why. I guess we're just blessed," said Raley. "We started coming back together in the fourth quarter. I would like to say it was me, but it wasn't, it was the kids."
The Lions return home next week for its 2008 Homecoming Game against Leesburg-First Academy at 7 p.m. at Ernie Wever Youth Park.
As for Raley, he said that he would enjoy the win for just one day.
"I'm amazed and shocked," he said about his team being 5-0. "I'm going to celebrate Friday night until I get the game film for the next game. So I'll have a good time tonight and then go back to work Saturday morning."

Hernando Christian Academy 18, Bradenton-St. Stephen's 7
Qtr. Scoring 1 2 3 4
HCA 0 6 6 6 -- 18
BSS 7 0 0 0 -- 7
Individual Scoring:
STS -- Zoller 2 run (Unzicker kick)
HCA -- Townsend 25 pass from Rotteveel (Lehman kick failed)
HCA -- Townsend 24 pass from Rotteveel (Knight run failed)
HCA -- Knight 60 run (Rotteveel run failed)

HCA STS
First downs 7 15
Rushing Atts./ards 27-75 30-99
Passes Comp./Att./Int. 4-8-0 9-20-2
Yards passing 107 79
Total Offense 35-182 50-178
Return yards 77 42
Punts 4-36.0 1-41.0
Fumbles/Lost 2-1 3-3
Penalties 5-30 5-35

Individual statistics
RUSHING (Attempts, Yards, Long gain)
HCA: Rotteveel 3-11, 8; N. Kautsky 4-0, 2; Knight 13-85, 60; Townsend 10- (-20), 6. STS: Unzicker 1- (-26), -26; Mire 6-37, 16; Zoller 9-47, 19; Ayala 14-41, 15.
PASSING (Completions, Attempts, Interceptions, Yards, Touchdowns, Long gain)
HCA: Rotteveel 4-8-0, 107, 2, 35. STS: Zoller 9-20-2, 82, 22.
RECEIVING (Catches, Yards, Long gain)
HCA: Towsend 3-72, 24; S. Kautsky 1-35, 35. STS: Breitwieser 1-22, 22; J. Essman 2-25, 14; Mire 2-12, 15; Vining 3-18, 12; Ayala 1-5, 5.