This story is sponsored by Total Electric
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
AUBURNDALE – For three quarters, the Auburndale defense could not stop Abbotsford. In the fourth quarter, when they needed to, the Eagles did.
Auburndale forced a turnover and a punt on the Falcons’ final two possessions and Aden Cherney kicked a 21-yard field goal as the clock hit zeroes to lift the Eagles to a thrilling 34-31 Homecoming win on Friday night at Thorpe Field at Auburndale High School, keeping their undefeated season intact.
With the game tied, Auburndale took over on its own 45 with 1:26 to go and on the first play quarterback Kaden Anderson connected with Evan Scholl for a 42-yard pass to put the Eagles near the red zone.
Auburndale was able to push the ball down to the 5 where Cherney connected on his second field goal of the game to win it and move to 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the Marawood Conference this season. Abbotsford is now 5-2 and 3-2 in conference play. Click here to view the Marawood Conference football standings
“I think our guys had to be an urgency to it,” Auburndale coach Jay Anderson said. “We made a few little changes on defense, but it really was their focus. There were a lot of times it looked like they might pull away from us, but we stayed with them. At halftime, we said it’s probably going to come down to whoever has the ball last, and fortunately we did.”
Both offenses were on the top of their games from the start. Auburndale drove 63 yards on its first drive, which ended with a 1-yard quarterback sneak from Anderson.
Abbotsford responded with a 73-yard drive and Christian Fuentes ran in from the 2 for a touchdown. The Falcons missed the extra point and Auburndale clung to a 7-6 lead.
Auburndale was stopped for the only time in the first half on its ensuing possession. A botched snap on a punt attempt set up Abbotsford at the Eagles’ 12 and Fuentes ran in on the first play to give Abby a 12-7 advantage.
Each team exchanged two touchdowns in the second quarter. Anderson threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Scholl on fourth-and-5 for Auburndale, only to see Abbotsford score on its second play as Fuentes raced 59 yards for his third touchdown to put the Falcons up 18-13.
Auburndale’s next drive ended in a 31-yard field goal from Cherney before Abbotsford scored quickly again. On the second play of the possession, JV Castillo hit a wide open Andrew Brodhagen for a 70-yard touchdown and make it 24-16 in favor of the Falcons.
With just 1:20 to work with before halftime, the Eagles weren’t content and put together a drive that may have saved the game for them.
Anderson scrambled for a 48-yard run, going out of bounds with 11 seconds left. A facemask penalty put the ball on the 7 where Anderson connected with Blake Raab for a touchdown. Scholl added a two-point run to tie the game at 24-24 at the half.
Abbotsford chewed up 5:07 of the third quarter on its opening drive of the second half as Castillo ran in from the 3 to put the Falcons back on top.
Auburndale ran out the rest of the quarter and nearly the first two minutes of the fourth with a 16-play, 79-yard drive. Despite committing two penalties, the Eagles were able to convert a pair of third downs and scored on a fourth-down pass from Anderson to Raab, tying the game again.
Abbotsford’s next drive ended with a fumble, recovered by the Eagles’ Logan Nagel, but Auburndale went three-and-out and punted it back to the Falcons.
The Auburndale defense stepped up again, pushing the Falcons backward after they picked up one first down and got the ball back to its offense with 1:31 to go, setting up what would be the winning drive.
“We made plays when we had to,” Jay Anderson said. “Our team, throughout the summer and up to the first day of practice, you could really see the togetherness. They really wanted to show that the program wasn’t going to drop off after graduating a bunch (of seniors from last year). I can’t say that we were going to be 7-0, but wishful thinking, you hope for that.”
Auburndale plays at Edgar (6-1, 5-0 Marawood) next Friday, Oct. 6, in a battle of Marawood unbeatens.
Eagles 34, Falcons 31
Abbotsford 12 12 7 0 – 31
Auburndale 7 17 0 10 – 34
First Quarter
AUB – Kaden Anderson 1 run (Aden Cherney kick), 7:46.
AB – Christian Fuentes 2 run (kick missed), 2:18.
AB – Fuentes 12 run (run failed), 0:24.
Second Quarter
AUB – Evan Scholl 5 pass from Anderson (run failed), 7:35.
AB – Fuentes 59 run (run failed), 6:40.
AUB – Cherney 31 field goal, 2:30.
AB – Andrew Brodhagen 70 pass from JV Castillo (run failed), 1:28.
AUB – Blake Raab 7 pass from Anderson (Scholl run), 0:07.
Third Quarter
AB – Castillo 3 run (kick good), 6:53.
Fourth Quarter
AUB – Raab 7 pass from Anderson (Cherney kick), 10:06.
AUB – Cherney 21 field goal, 0:00.
Team Statistics
First downs: AB 11; AUB 17.
Rushing (att-yards): AB 34-242; AUB 41-224.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): AB 3-4-124-0; AUB 11-19-157-0.
Total yards: AB 366; AUB 381.
Fumbles (total-lost): AB 1-1; AUB 2-0.
Penalties (no.-yards): AB 6-50; AUB 5-40.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: AB, Christian Fuentes 8-123, JV Castillo 20-76, Emilo Escalera 4-42, Chase Boller 2-1. AUB, Kaden Anderson 20-139, Evan Scholl 18-75, Nathan Richardson 2-5, Aden Cherney 1-5.
Passing: AB, Castillo 3-4-124-0. AUB, Anderson 11-18-152-0, Blake Raab 0-1-0-0.
Receiving: AB, Andrew Brodhagen 1-70, Fuentes 1-21, Escalera 1-33. AUB, Scholl 4-50, Raab 3-26, Cherney 2-59, Richardson 2-22.
Fumble recoveries (defense): AUB, Logan Nagel.
Records: Abbotsford 5-2, 3-2 Marawood Conference; Auburndale 7-0, 5-0 Marawood Conference.