Fall Mountain football overcomes sluggish start, shuts out ConVal

Christopher Detwiler, The Keene Sentinel, N.H.
·3 min read

Sep. 24—LANGDON — It was a one-score game after the first quarter.

But two turnovers in the second quarter helped Fall Mountain balloon its lead by halftime, and the Wildcats were on their way to a 33-0 win over ConVal Friday night in Langdon.

Junior Owen Riendeau ran for 150 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns.

"We game planned the whole week for them," Riendeau said. "Our line is a big part of that. The sweeps were working well. I just try to find the holes and follow my blockers."

Senior Max Vogel also had two scores for the 'Cats.

Fall Mountain's defense forced three turnovers total — two fumbles and an interception — all leading to touchdowns.

"Those are huge," said Fall Mountain head coach Orion Binney. "It's such a momentum shift and it gets them hyped up. ... They see we have an opportunity to score and get ahead, so those were huge. It's what we need from our defense."

A sloppy first quarter for both teams saw three turnover on downs (two for Fall Mountain, one for ConVal). ConVal's fourth-down gamble gave the Wildcats the ball at the Cougar 20-yard line and Fall Mountain took advantage. Vogel scored on a one-yard touchdown run to put Fall Mountain ahead 7-0.

That was the only score of the first quarter.

"I wasn't happy with the focus and intensity to start," Binney said. "We have to clean that up. It's good to get a win, obviously, but you don't want to see that lack of intensity and lack of focus, especially with how important these games are going to be moving forward."

The Wildcats scored on their first drive of the second half — Riendeau's first — then a fumble recovery by Fall Mountain junior Evan West gave the Wildcats the ball right back and in the blink of an eye it was 20-0 (ConVal blocked an extra point).

"I think they got caught up in their own hype a little bit," Binney said. "They just thought they could roll in and beat anybody, but it's football. You have to play. ConVal has some talented players. They have some kids that you give them the corner and they're gone. I tried to emphasize that all week."

"They surprised us at the beginning, and we took them for granted, for sure," Riendeau said. "The run game started it, for sure. Coach yelling at us help too. Everything clicked after that, and we were good."

By halftime it was 27-0.

ConVal again had to start its sophomore quarterback Bradley Brunelle, who threw for 12 yards on 2-for-7 passing with an interception.

"[Brunelle] has drive and he wants to do well," said ConVal coach Matt Harris. "He's learning to read the field and read everything. For what he has, he's determined. The future is bright for him.

"They're such a young team," Harris added. "We have so many sophomores in key spots. ... They're stepping up. The future looks bright."

Harris credited senior Everett Benham, who helped in the run game with 35 yards on three carries.

"That boy played with heart," Harris said. "We've been working on our crossbuck play for a little while and we were finally able to rep it right and those were our big plays."

Fall Mountain (3-1) travels to Kingswood next Friday while ConVal (0-4) hosts Monadnock, also Friday.

Chris Detwiler can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1411, or cdetwiler@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @Chris_Detwiler.