Mixing a massive ground game with a newfound ing attack, Fallbrook High has reached a level of football not seen in nearly two decades at the North County’s oldest high school.
The Warriors turned a tight contest into a convincing victory with a strong second half, leading to a 47-21 triumph Friday night over Francis Parker in a CIF Division IV quarterfinal matchup on the winners’ field.
“At this point there’s just one thing in mind, and that’s winning football games,” said junior running back Alan Leon, who amassed 256 yards rushing on 27 carries, including a first-half touchdown run of 18 yards and back-to-back scoring jaunts of 33 and 66 yards in the third quarter. He also had an apparent 81-yard score called back due to a holding penalty.
“Our offensive line became healthy this week, and the gaps were opening up easier,” added Leon. “I knew I had to step up.”
The Warriors (8-3), co-champions of the Valley League and the top seed in Division IV, were playing without leading rusher Chris Bausch, who averages 157.5 yards per game. The junior, who also sat out Fallbrook’s only league loss against San Pasqual with a case of the flu, is currently nursing a sore shoulder.
“We hope to have Chris back for next week,” first-year coach Ross Johnson said. “But we have some more backs who could start at other schools.”
In addition to Leon, junior Jackson Christopherson added 62 yards on 13 carries and one score as Fallbrook rolled up 355 yards rushing as a team. On top of that, sophomore quarterback Evan Thomas completed 11 of 14 es for 204 yards and scored on a 10-yard run as the Warriors accumulated 559 yards of offense.
“Evan really threw the ball well,” said Johnson. “It was good to see us add more to our offense, and the bye week really helped us with that.”
Thomas’s favorite receiver on the night was senior tight end Kyle Collings, who had eight catches for 169 yards, all in the first half.
“I’m always there for the team,” said Collings, who had an 18-yard scoring reception late in the first half to give Fallbrook the lead for good after the No. 9-seeded Lancers (5-7) briefly took a 21-20 lead. “This was my time to show my talents. This is the playoffs.”
Fallbrook has now won eight games in a season for the first time since the 2003 squad went 10-4 and reached the Division I championship game at Qualcomm Stadium. The Warriors’ next challenge will be a semifinal test on Nov. 18 at home against No. 5 seed Mission Bay, a 17-10 winner over Montgomery. The winner of that contest will advance to the Division IV championship game Nov. 25 at Escondido High’s Wilson Stadium.
The Warriors had their hands full with Francis Parker’s Christopher Williams, who had first-half touchdown runs of 31 and 65 yards in addition to tossing a 43-yard TD to Kobi Oldenburg on a screen to the right side which gave the Lancers a 21-20 lead with 1:08 remaining in the first half.
Fallbrook reclaimed the lead by advancing 71 yards on six plays in 59 seconds, capped off by the 18-yard scoring from Thomas to Collins. The hosts elected to try a two-point conversion run, which fell short to leave the halftime score at 26-21 in favor of Fallbrook.
The Warriors scored on their first two possessions of the second half, with Leon capping each drive with a long TD run as Fallbrook took command.
“We played with a lot of confidence in the first half,” said Francis Parker second-year coach Stephen Cooper, whose team was coming off a 24-21 first-round win over Hilltop. “We had a lot of guys banged up in the second half, but you can’t take anything away from Fallbrook. They had a great game plan.”
Williams rushed for 137 first-half yards on 13 carries, but he only had two rushes for 20 yards in the second half.
“They were ready to fight from the start, and that No. 17 (Williams) is a heck of an athlete,” said Johnson.
Williams, a senior, finished the season with 28 touchdowns.
“He’s a dynamic player,” said Cooper, whose squad suited up just 25 players. “We have a lot of underclassmen, so we have some talent coming back for next year.”
Hoff is a freelance writer.
Fallbrook 47, Francis Parker 21
Francis Parker 7 14 0 0 — 21
Fallbrook 14 12 14 7 — 47
F — Leon 18 run (Gomez kick)
FP — Williams 31 run (Cumming kick)
F — Thomas 10 run (Gomez kick)
F — FG Gomez 36
FP — Williams 65 run (Cumming kick)
F — FG Gomez 23
FP — Williams 65 run (Cumming kick)
FP — Oldenburg 43 from Williams (Cumming kick)
F — Collings 18 from Thomas (run failed)
F — Leon 33 run (Gomez kick)
F — Leon 66 run (Gomez kick)
F — Christopherson 1 run (Gomez kick)
