Falcons Soar To 57-7 Win Over Midlothian!
This is the first and probably will be the only time I reference a Sesame Street song… yeah, we’re going there. ‘One of These Things (Is Not Like The Others). That is what comes to mind when I look back at Friday’s Central Region Game of the Week. While Midlothian might have come in undefeated, as the game progressed you could tell they were not on the same level as some of their other undefeated brethren.
Ask any coach, any player, any team and they will tell you, they can find motivation in just about anything. For Huguenot they had some motivation. There was the fact Huguenot has been doubted after that season opening loss to St. Chris. Sure they came in 2-1 but those wins had not come against teams who are a combined 1-8. Then there was the Homecoming angle. That’s right, it was Midlo’s homecoming and I know when I was in school you scheduled an easy game for Homecoming, not a team like Huguenot who is expected to compete in Region 4B.
If you have ever have seen Huguenot enter a stadium, play a game there is one thing you know, they do not lack confidence or moxie. So you add a little motivation to that bravado and you got trouble. In nature Falcons are known for their high speed, remarkable eyesight and precision stops with their talons when they go hunting. Well there were no talons on this Falcons squad but there were precision stops (Falcons defense), there was remarkable eyesight (big time pass plays) and there was a lot of speed (both sides of the ball).
Precision Stops
There were a ton of precision stops for the Falcons in this one as they forced a 3 & out 7 times in this contest!
Jayce Bigelow had a big role in that with 3 stops of his own bringing down the Trojans on third down. Cartier Canady had a pass breakup and Christopher Green almost picked off Gibson Gross. Zayvon ‘Ziggy’ Miller did in fact pick off Gross and he returned it 96 yards for the lone defensive TD of the night for either team.
There was a fumble from the Trojans as well, two in fact but only one got gobbled up by the Falcons. Eriq Johnson recovered the second fumble of the night to setup the final score of the night for the Falcons.
Huguenot was just hungrier on defense despite the fact that coming into this contest the Trojans were allowing just 4 points a game They executed from jump and they swarmed to the ball when on the ground. The Falcons held Midlothian to 180 yards off offense, 109 of that in the passing game and 74 of those yards came on the lone Trojan TD. Midlothian had just 5 first downs all night long.. that speaks for itself.
Remarkable Eyesight
3 of the Falcons 8 TD’s were 50+ yards.
The vision of the youngster Charles Scott, Jr. was on full display as his arm was behind two of this 50+ yard touchdowns. Scott threw with precision completing 12 of his 18 passes for over 300 yards and 5 TD’s!
What was interesting to see too on this night was Scott, Jr. carrying the ball down field. Not something he does often if at all, Scott did manage 50 yards on 3 carries; an average of 16.6 yards per carry.
He was not the only one with the vision this night. Iveon Lewis tracked that pigskin through the air on two of those big plays and another as that vision coupled with speed was every bit of explosive. 5 catches for Iveon and he scored three times! By far his best game of the season.
And how about the vision of the defense? Preying on Gibson Gross, rattling his cage for an uncharacteristic 4 completions out of 17 passes??? Jayce Bigelow (5 tackles), Cartier Canady (6 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, 1 sack), Chris Green (2 tackles, PBU), and Zayvon Miller (2 tackles, pick-6) among many Falcons making plays.
They had the vision to swarm to the ball whether it was Gross with a keeper or trying to buy time to allow one of his guys to get into space. The Falcons swarmed to the ball when Gross would tuck it and attempt to run or handoff to DK Chapman who only managed 47 yards.
Speedsters
Three names and multiple moments.
Zayvon ‘Ziggy’ Miller who raced down the field after picking off Gibson Gross cashing in on a 96-yard pick-6.
Randal Robinson and Markel Dabney. While Charles Scott, Jr. threw his share of TD’s and turned in a big game through the air, you cannot discount what the two speedsters did on the ground. Robinson had 121 yards on the ground off 15 carries; an average of 8 yards per carry. Markel on the other hand had just 5 carries & 82 yards but he reached the promise land twice on runs of 11 & 51 yards.
Midlothian Moments
While there is no doubt it was not the Trojans night, there were some moments… some bright spots.
In the second quarter the Falcons fumbled on their second possession of the night and came away with the ball. They couldn’t take advantage of the moment, a missed opportunity down early 7-0 with the game still within reach.
Drew Mierchuck had a nice game on defense including a sack in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, on the Trojans second play of the half the Trojans ended the Huguenot shutout with a 74-yard hookup between Gibson Gross and Tyler Kagey. Also in this third quarter Nate Coppedge almost intercepted Scott. Scott played a clean game, no INT’s so that could have been big even down 7-36.
Huguenot 56, Midlothian 7 – Box Score
| Time | Play | Score |
| 1Q – 9:49 | 55-yard pass from Charles Scott, Jr. to Iveon Lewis. PAT no good. | 6-0 Huguenot |
| 1Q – 4:28 | 19-yard pass from Charles Scott, Jr. to Jhamari Cain. PAT good. | 13-0 Huguenot |
| 2Q – 7:39 | 51-yard run for Markel Dabney. PAT good. | 20-0 Huguenot |
| 2Q – 3:49 | 54-yard pass from Charles Scott Jr. to Iveon Lewis. Markel Dabney 2-pt conversion. | 28-0 Huguenot |
| 3Q – 8:07 | 11-yard run for Markel Dabney. 2-pt conversion good. | 36-0 Huguenot |
| 3Q – 7:32 | 74-yard pass from Gibson Gross to Tyler Kagey. Brandon Snyder PAT. | 7-36 Midlothian |
| 3Q – :02 | 39-yard pass from Charles Scott, Jr. to Iveon Lewis. PAT good. | 43-7 Huguenot |
| 4Q – 7:34 | 96-yard pick-6 from Zayvon Miller. PAT good. | 50-7 Huguenot |
| 4Q – 4:59 | 13-yard pass from Charles Scott, Jr. to Ra’sean Miller. PAT good. | 57-7 Huguenot |
Players of the Game
Look no further than the QB spot for the Falcons and the sophomore Charles Scott, Jr.. Against a defense that had given up 16 total points in 4 games, Scott shredded picked apart the defense. Scott hit the spot 12 of 18 attempts and threw for over 300 yards (315)! On a night where the Falcons scored 8 TD’s, Scott had a hand (literally) on 5 of those 8 TD’s.
On a night where the defense gave up 57 points it sounds silly to look at the defense but early on that defense was the saving grace for the Trojans. Over time, over four quarters the defense tired with the offense unable to sustain drives but middle linebacker Drew Mierchuk was relentless racking up 8.5 tackles against a very good Falcons offense.
I am also going to give some love, some respect to Markel Dabney, the Michigan-bound standout of the Falcons. It is one thing to make plays as he did scoring twice and getting his share of carries. It is another to be a leader and I saw that Friday from him. When things were getting chippy between the two teams and the refs had some advice for the Falcons, Markel could be spotted on the field looking to his teammates and telling them to essentially knock it off. That is something I did not see in Markel last year and the sign of a leader.
Coach Speak
Post-Game Nuggets
If you are charting wins and losses… Coach Scott at Huguenot improves to 22-5 at Huguenot & Coach Gross is now 16-10 at Midlothian.
Coach Scott is now 3-0 all-time versus Coach Gross.
Huguenot has now won 3 straight against Midlothian for the first time since the 2005-2007 seasons.
57 points by Huguenot is the most for the Falcons versus the Trojans since 1993 when the Falcons scored 58.
50-point margin of victory is the largest for Huguenot over Midlothian since winning by 60 in 1990.
7 points is the fewest for the Trojans since Powhatan held them to 7 on Oct. 29th, 2021.
57 points given up by Midlothian is the most since giving up 62 to LC Bird on Sept. 8th, 2016.