By Walsh CARVALHO

The Falcons football season came to an end in Glendale last Friday night when CVHS fell to the South Hills Huskies with a final score of 23-33.

Despite a solid effort by the Falcons (8-4), the South Hills Huskies (10-2) ended up with the winning combination of offense, defense and special teams.

The game started out with a deceiving yet successful onside kick by the Huskies, which set the tone of the game. The Huskies had two of three successful onside kicks of the night.

The game’s first score came with a 43 yard pass from the Huskies Jacob Shirley to Dakota Behr, however the Falcons bounced right back with a score on a shovel pass from Kyle Cota to Harry Pessy. Pessy averaged just under a 100 yards a game this season.

The Huskies defense came into play when Ruben Townes intercepted the ball and returned it 50 yards to put the Huskies on the board again. Falcon Andrew Carcich kept the momentum alive with a blocked field goal to keep the score at 7-13.

One of the game’s highlights came from a deceptive play by the Falcons when they ran an unofficial fumble rouskie that was taken 26 yards by offensive lineman Sam Campbell. The defense was completely fooled as Campbell seamlessly snuck past them causing the CV fans to go wild.

Campbell, who played his heart out on both sides of the field, said later that he “had practiced that play all week,” adding, “I gave it my all.”

CV looked to be back in the game with a field goal by Arian Abghari to put the Falcons within three. Abghari gave an outstanding performance all night putting almost every kickoff on the one-yard line including one that was returned 64 yards by the Huskies Miles Bevel. This could have been a touchdown if it weren’t for a spectacular tackle by Abghari himself.

The Falcons appeared to be back in the game going into the half with a quarterback keeper by Cota who followed a solid block by his center Alex Reid from seven yards out with four seconds left on the clock. But a blocked extra point kept the momentum leaning toward the Huskies.

The Falcons were slowed down in the third quarter held to only a handful of plays. The Huskies offense also halted a bit, thanks to a broken up play in the end zone by CV’s Dai Dai McFadden. The Huskies however still managed to put in two field goals by Austin Daugherty who had compiled nine points for South Hills.

At the start of the fourth, the score was 33-16 with the Huskies on top. A Falcon score by Pessy would bring CV a little closer to a resurgence, however the game clock would prevent them from getting any closer then the final score of 33-23.

It was a strong season for the Falcons with players being recognized for their work. Cota was among three Falcons to receive awards last week from the Glendale Quarterbacks Club. Cota averaged 175 yards a game this season and was awarded club MVP. Mike Bako and Marro Lee won club scholar/athlete and JV MVP, respectively.

Falcons coach Tony Zarrillo was proud of his boys. “It was a very good season, and I am very pleased with the kids,” he said. “They played hard, they hustled. They were truly dedicated to wanting to win…and they played with enthusiasm.”