Football: Eagles Find Offense in Second Half for Dramatic, 22-21, Comeback Win over Tuscarora

South Riding (Oct. 10, 2010) - Trailing 21-0 to Tuscarora High School at halftime Friday night, the Freedom football team needed to find some offense after scoring just 29 points on the season in five games, including just three field goals by senior Zack Shuster in the previous three losses.

All of that changed in the second half as Freedom junior quarterback Matt Malacane rushed for two touchdowns and then combined with Shuster for one of the biggest plays in school history after junior Gerson Rodriguez's TD run with 3:37 left in the game cut the Huskies lead to 21-20.

Content to tie the contest, the Eagles ended up winning the contest on Malacane's quick thicking and Shuster's "legs" not his "leg", a the point after snap bouned back to Malacane, fearing the kick would be blocked, Malacane then flipped the ball to Shuster who headed towards the right corner of the end zone and dove across the goal line to give Freedom the incredible, 22-21, come-from-behind victory.

Tuscarora (2-4), looking for back-to-back wins and a chance to get to .500, led 21-0 at the half on three 1-yard TD dives, two by Chris Holoman and the other by Cameron Molina.

Rodriguez was one of the stars for Freedom in the comeback with 101 yards rushing on just four carries. Sophomore LB Christian Lewis also picked off two passes for Freedom (3-3) reaches .500 after opening the year 2-0.

Freedom 22, Tuscarora 21
(V) Tuscarora High School 0 21 0 0 0 21
(H) Freedom South Riding Eagl 0 0 7 15 0 22


Scoring Summary: Plays Yards TOP Score
2 10:59 THS Chris Holoman Run 1 yds PAT Kick by Will Prendergast GOOD. 4 3 01:43 7 - 0
2 09:36 THS Cameron Molina Run 1 yds PAT Kick by Will Prendergast GOOD. 15 4 01:23 14 - 0
2 01:35 THS Chris Holoman Run 1 yds PAT Kick by Will Prendergast GOOD. 5 35 02:05 21 - 0
3 05:38 FHS Matt MALACANE Run 4 yds PAT Kick by Zach SHUSTER GOOD. 10 80 04:22 21 - 7
4 08:31 FHS Matt MALACANE Run 2 yds PAT Kick by Zach SHUSTER GOOD. 12 52 04:29 21 - 14
4 03:37 FHS Gerson RODRIGUEZ Run 3 yds PAT Run by Zach SHUSTER GOOD. 3 60 00:51 21 - 22

                                                      FHS        THS
FIRST DOWN                                13          11
RUSHES / YARDS (NET)            34/156    45/94
PASSING YARDS (NET)               35          95
Passes Att/Comp/Int                      14/7/1     15/6/3
TOTAL OFF. PLAYS/YARDS   48 / 191   60 / 189
Fumble Returns / Yards                   0 / 0        0 / 0
Punt Returns / Yards                        0 / 0       2 / 35
Kickoff Returns / Yards                  3 / 28      4 / 45
Interception Returns /Yards            3 / 28       1 / 2
Punts (Number/Avg)                      3 / 32       1 / 48
Fumbles / Lost                               1 / 1         1 / 1
Penalties / Yards                          7 / 29        6 / 58
Possession Time                           25:06       22:24
Sacks By: Number/Yards              0 / 0       3 / 18

RUSHING(Att / Yards):
Tuscarora High School: Cameron Molina 25 / 77 Tyler Dietrich 2 / 9 Chris Holoman 4 / 6 Edwin Mends 9 / 3 Adrien Stinger 5 / -1
Freedom South Riding: Gerson Rodriguez 4 / 101 Derek Burns 10 / 55 Darius McMillian 5 / 12 Darius Foster 1 / 1 TEAM 3 / -1 Matt Malacane 11 / -12

PASSING(Comp/Att/Int/Yard):
Tuscarora High School: Edwin Mends 5/10/1/82 Tyler Dietrich 1/5/2/13
Freedom South Riding: Matt Malacane 7/14/1/35

RECEIVING(No / Yard):
Tuscarora High School: Alden Carpenter 5 / 87 Dionte Fitts 1 / 8
Freedom South Riding: Garrison Fuller 2 / 37 Zach Shuster 2 / 23 Derek Burns 1 / 0 Chuck Thompson 2 / -25

INTERCEPTIONS(No / Yard):
Tuscarora High School: Devon Carter 1 / 2
Freedom South Riding: Christian Lewis 2 / 23 Will McGlaughlin 1 / 5

SACKS(UA / A):
Tuscarora High School: Dionte Fitts 2 / 14 Courtez Day 1 / 4
Freedom South Riding: None

TACKLES (UA / A) :
Tuscarora High School: Chris Holoman 5 / 1 Darrius Anderson 4 / 1 Dionte Fitts 4 / 0 Courtez Day 4 / 0
Cameron Molina 3 / 1 Drew Davidson 3 / 0 John Johnson 2 / 0 Jake Beegen 2 / 0
Brad White 1 / 0 Spencer Ralda 1 / 0 Derek McGee 1 / 0 Adarsh Grewal 0 / 1

Freedom South Riding: Chris Freda 9 / 3 Christian Lewis 4 / 2 Chris Cook 4 / 2 Taylor Park 4 / 1
Alec Owens 3 / 5 Austen Thomas 3 / 2 Joel Pugh 3 / 0 Eric Daly 2 / 2
DQ Timbers 2 / 1 Will McGlaughlin 2 / 0 Gerson Rodriguez 1 / 0 Matt Malacane 1 / 0
Patrick Donovan 1 / 0 Jeff Denfeld 1 / 0 Gunnar Blackshaw 1 / 0 Jesse Mizell 0 / 2