FALCONS CONTINUE TO FLY HIGH

JEFFERSON, Ohio –

Since the first meeting between the Jefferson Falcons (5-1) and Hubbard Eagles (4-2) in 2010, Hubbard has dominated the series 8-1, all while outscoring the Falcons by a total of 369-157.

Jefferson’s struggles against not only the Eagles, but the NE8 conference is known no better than the Falcons themselves, and they came into the night with something to prove. After forcing Hubbard to punt to open the ballgame, the Falcons would march down the field and get on the board first thanks to a Kaige Baczar two-yardtouchdown run.

Both teams would trade turnovers before Hubbard would fail to convert in the red zone, giving it back over to the Falcons on downs. Just two plays later, the Hubbard defense would come up with its second turnover of the night, setting the offense up in plus territory. Penalties would go on to kill the Hubbard drive, wiping a touchdown off the board for the Eagles that would have knotted things up.

Seven plays later and the Jefferson offense would take a two-possession lead courtesy of a five-yard Grant Hitchcock pass to Trent Hodge with less than six minutes to play in the opening half.

The Hubbard offense would again excel at moving the ball in between the twenty’s but once more stall out in the redzone, sending the Falcons into the locker room with a 13-0 lead.

Starting the second half with the ball, the Falcons continued to roll with a six play, three-and-a-half-minute drive that was capped off with the second edition of Hitchcock to Hodge this time from forty-six yards out. The teams would trade scoreless possessions before the Eagles were able to move the ball down into the redzone once more and finally cap things off with a Nik Hendrix one-yard quarterback sneak for their first score of the night.

Just as the Eagles finally looked to have gained some momentum, the Falcons star in Hitchcock would account for his third touchdown of the night on the very next play from scrimmage. The versatile Falcon quarterback would take the snap alone in the shotgun, busting through the line and reversing field enroute to a seventy-one-yard touchdown run.

While the Eagles were able to score once more in the ballgame on a Ben Wilcox two-yard touchdown run, Jefferson would respond with a scoreless but long sustained drive, giving the Eagles virtually no chance trailing by two scores. The Falcons would grab their second conference victory of the season, 25-13.

BIG PERFORMERS

JEFFERSON:

Grant Hitchcok: 10-15 passing, 306 total yards, 3 total TDs

Trent Hodge: 10 catches, 126 yards, 2 TDs

HUBBARD:

Ben Wilcox: 23 rushing yards, 1 TD

Mason Hodge: 3 catches, 88 receiving yards

UP NEXT

Jefferson: Carrying the momentum of back-to-back victories, the Jefferson Falcons will make the trip south to Mahoning County to take on the Struthers Wildcats (2-4) who are fresh off a big 41-3 victory over Lakeview.

Hubbard: Losing to Jefferson for the first time since 2011, the Eagles will head home and look to rebound with another team they’ve dominated in recent history, the Lakeview Bulldogs (3-3). Hubbard has won the last four games against the Bulldogs by an average of 36.5 points. Lakeview head coach Sam Bellino, former Hubbard standout and assistant coach, will make his return to Hubbard Memorial Stadium for the first time since taking the job in Cortland.

*Contributed By YSN’s Jamie Thomson