Falcons fly

With seven combined turnovers and 20 penalties, Friday night's contest between River Valley and Lindhurst was everything one would expect in a season opener.

Thankfully for the Falcons, their defense came ready to play.

River Valley sacked Blazers' quarterback Christian George 10 times and Troy Thomason rumbled his way in for two second-half touchdowns to lead the Falcons to a 21-7 victory at Dean Miller Stadium in the first game of the year for both teams.

The name of the game was defense in this one, as the Falcons limited the Blazers to just 30 yards of total offense through the opening 40 minutes of the contest while jumping out to a 21-0 lead.

"The game was won defensively. Coach (Chuck) Taylor had the team prepared and we put a lot of pressure on their young quarterback," River Valley coach Brandon Asher said. "It wasn't the cleanest played game with the fumbles and the penalties, but it's a W."

River Valley (1-0) opened the scoring on its second possession of the game by marching the ball 72 yards for a touchdown. Colin Gault started things with a 26-yard gallop down the left sideline on third-and-7 and followed it up with another 10-yard run to move the ball down to the Blazers' 29-yard line.

Five plays later, Gault found paydirt by bouncing off left tackle for a 5-yard TD run to give the Falcons a 7-0 lead 9 minutes into the game.

The first half was all Falcons, who outgained Lindhurst 141 to 27 yards, while allowing the Blazers only two first downs.

"We couldn't get the momentum we wanted," Lindhurst coach Mike Mason said. "They did a lot of blitzes and we're a young team so it took a toll on us."

Lindhurst's defense played solid in the first half, but wore down in the second due to a smashmouth Falcons running game. On the second possession after the intermission, River Valley pounded the ball off the right side on four straight plays to move the ball down to the Blazers' 12-yard line.

And with the Lindhurst defense shading that side of the line, the Falcons crossed them up and Thomason broke through off left tackle and raced in untouched for the score to give River Valley a 14-0 lead.

The Falcons then put the game away on the first series of the fourth. After a 40-yard scamper by Dustin Terrell moved the ball down into Blazer territory, Thomason found a huge hole once again on the left side and raced in from 22 yards out to give River Valley a 21-0 lead with 9:31 remaining.

But after being held to just 3 yards of offense in the half, the Blazers' came to life and piled up 122 yards on their final two possessions. They finally found the end zone on a 31-yard touchdown run by Brandon Vailautolu with 3:40 remaining, but by that time it was too little too late.

"We had 27 players and they had 54 so they just wore us down," Mason said. "We have a very aggressive, young group of kids. They were fighting, but they just made too many mistakes."

Thomason led the charge for the Falcons with 80 yards on just five carries, while Jordan Finley and Thomas Propes led the defense with five of River Valley's 10 sacks.