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2008 MEMORY LANE
As every year it all started the first Tuesday of June. This year looked to be the toughest yet as far as rebuilding. Only a handful of Falcons 7th grade team members were coming back to play for the 8th grade team. As the summer went the team started forming and the outlook was looking a whole lot better. After several pre-season scrimmages our first "game test" was agains the always tough Alcoa Middle football team; this year would prove to be know different. As both defenses dominated the game; the end result was a 16-8 overtime win for the homestanding Tornados.
The following day we made our annual trip south to Stone Mountain, GA to defend our title in the big pre-season classic. We opened up play against a very scrappy Fairburn Flames (Fairburn, GA). The Falcons came away victorious; next up was our out-of-state rival Central Dekalb Jaguars (Stone Mountain, GA). The Falcons Jaguars has had some "wars" on the field over the last three years, each time out we were fortunate enough to come out on the winning side. Each game has been dominated by the defenses; 2008 would be no different except Central Dekalb came out on top. The loss sent us to a consolation game having to win to get another shot at the Jaguars. We were able to come away with another win to get back to the Jags in the championship game. The game started out as always both defenses not giving an inch; then the Jags scored on a long TD pass. The Falcons came up short but walked away with a second place finish. This was the Falcons 4th trip to the big event and for the fourth time reached the championship game (winning two and losing two).
Next up for the Falcons was annual trip north to the River City Classic played in Louisville, KY. This would be the third trip north; winning the event in '06 and runner-up in '07. As we have each year we played the host PCC Bears out of the gate; as always they are very scrappy but in the end for the third year in a row the Falcons came away with a win. Next up would be the always tough Iroquios Raiders (Louisville, KY). THe Falcons totally "dominated" every statistic category including turn-overs which would allow the Raiders a cheap and game winning score. The third game of the round-robin event had the Falcons against the Derby City Cardinal; another local scrappy group. The Falcons came away with a hard fought win and finished runner-up for the second straight year.
Next up would be the always tough Knox Metro XFL regular season. The Falcons started off slow in league play but finished strong with a 5-2-1 record and #3 seed heading into the playoffs. Powell Panthers (#2 seed) would be the first round opponent. The Panthers previously beat the Falcons (18-14) scoring the game winning TD with less than a minute to go. This time the Falcons had revenge on their mind; Matthew Waggoner intercepted a Panther pass and dashed 60 yards for the game's first score. RB Jalante Castle ran for big yards behind our BIG O'line for the games second score. Waggoner also would catch a "jump ball" pass in the endzone as the first half ended to put the Falcons up 22-0. Castle scored another TD late to seal the victory 30-0. The win would put the Falcons into the Championship for the 5th time in 6 years. The opponent would be the un-beaten and defending champ Farragut Admirals. The Falcons got off to a great start to only have that negated by the scrappy Admirals. This wouldn't be the Falcons day as the Admirals won 20-14 in a great game.
The Falcons didn't achieve the "goal" but definitely carried on the rich tradition that this 8th grade program has. Not only are we considered one of the top 8th grade programs in the city but we are widely considered a top program in the Southeast region. We hope the players go on and have alot of success in high school and on in life.
Many players contributed to this team's success.
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