Warriors triumph over Centurions 55-23... with touchdowns by Loer, Benner, Menossi, Wallace, Cordova, Ramirez

Kyle Williams made his debut as a high school head football coach Aug. 31 and ended the game victorious after his Fallbrook High School team defeated University City by a 55-23 margin on the Centurions' field in San Diego.

"It's an exciting moment for not only me but the players and the coaches and the administrators and the parents, everyone who has contributed so much to the program. I'm very happy for all of them as well," Williams said. "It was wonderful for everyone to get to share in that moment."

The Warriors had a scrimmage against San Marcos on Aug. 23. Fallbrook scored on its first play, but the Knights had a 27-21 halftime lead. The Warriors ended the game with a 42-27 victory. Although the purpose of a scrimmage is preparation rather than necessarily the final score, the lesson about persevering when behind carried into Fallbrook's first official game at University City.

Fallbrook scored the first 14 points against the Centurions, who then scored the final 17 points of the first half.

"In the past, the kids would have decided that the game was over at that point," Williams said.

That mentality has been reversed this year.

"They're starting to realize that everything that happens to us, good or bad, is because of us," Williams said.

That put the responsibility of penalties, poor execution, and other matters on the team.

"We made that happen," Williams said.

That meant that the team was responsible for correcting any situations which led to a deficit.

"As long as we're executing at a higher level we're going to win that football game," Williams said. "It's a four-quarter game. We believe that we're never out of it and our kids will absolutely never give up."

The Centurions almost built up a larger halftime lead.

"Our defense made a big stop just before the half," Williams said.

The Warrior defense kept University City out of the end zone, forcing a field goal attempt which missed.

"That was important for our kids, too, to get that stop," Williams said.

The Warriors' first possession of the second half began on their own 20-yard-line, but Fallbrook gained the necessary 80 yards for a touchdown.

"From there it was just a rout," Williams said.

Fallbrook scored the first 34 points of the second half before a Centurion touchdown late in the fourth quarter. The Warriors scored a subsequent touchdown to conclude the scoring.

"We only threw the ball one time the entire game and that was late in the first half," Williams said. "We ran, ran, ran. It was our goal to run over them."

Six different Fallbrook players scored touchdowns. Hayden Loer opened the scoring with a three-yard run. Landon Benner scored the other first-quarter touchdown on a one-yard quarterback sneak. Boston Menossi scored the first two touchdowns of the third quarter on runs of 18 and four yards. Richard Wallace closed out the third-quarter touchdowns with a seven-yard run, and his 49-yard run was the final fourth period touchdown. The first two touchdowns in the fourth quarter were a 13-yard run by Trevino Cordova and a three-yard run by Carlos Ramirez.

Parker Roberson was successful on seven of his eight extra point attempts. The offense was aided by linemen Steven Branham, Jaime Cachero, Jason Whitesell, Alejandro Estrada, Jason Nguyen, Christian Rudisell, and Ivan Domingo.

Fallbrook fumbled three times but only turned over the ball once. The Warrior defense had two takeaways. Prior to Benner's touchdown Ian Crilli stripped the ball and returned it 60 yards before being tackled at the one-yard-line. Trevor Rainwater's interception was Fallbrook's other takeaway.

"I think it's a tribute to our conditioning and our ability to wear them down," Williams said. "We have a saying: 'They get tired, we get stronger'."

The Warriors host Mount Carmel tomorrow night. "We were much better this week than we were last week, and we expect to be much better against Mount Carmel than we were against University City," Williams said. "Our opponents are going to improve every week and we need to improve every week as well."