History tends to repeat itself with this crosstown rivalry.
Each year for the last four, Bel Air and Fallston football has been decided on the last drive — sometimes the last play. Every meeting winds up a thriller. “This is 29 million years in a row, it feels like,” Bel Air coach Eric Seigel said. “It’s always a one-score game.”
Last year, the Bobcats decided a 22-21 win when JT Ouandji Nana rushed up the middle for a 2-point conversion. Friday night, it was an interception from senior Michael Graham on fourth down that foiled Fallston’s two-minute drill and sealed Bel Air’s 27-20 win.
Graham aside, it was Bel Air’s sophomores and juniors who protected home turf for a team that arrived at Week 1 dreadfully depleted. The Bobcats were without their upperclass core quartet due to injuries. That meant no Julien Horton, Ouandji Nana, Patrick Sullivan or Evan Freeney – all difference makers on both sides of the ball.
Conversations of making up for lost production entering Friday were simple.
“It’s try to do the little things great,” Siegel said. “One of those philosophies we try to install.”
The Harford County preseason favorites fended off the Cougars because younger talent stepped up and, as their coach says, were great at the little things.
First, the help came from an unexpected source. Kayden Blaine nearly lived out every lineman’s dream. The 6-foot, 260-pound sophomore who sees reps on both sides of the trenches, undercut a dump-off pass from Fallston quarterback Dom Foster. As much as anything, Blaine was in the right place at the right time to make the catch inside the Cougars’ 20-yard line and scramble down to the 1. His extended reach landed a yard shy of a pick-six but he was still showered with love back on the sideline for his unexpected forced turnover in the second quarter.
Siegel played the same position when he was in high school and wanted so badly to see Blaine cross into the end zone. But “like the linemen do,” Siegel said, “you get tackled at the 1.”
Fellow sophomore Dylan James finished the job on the next play with a 1-yard rushing touchdown. That was James’ first of two scores. The second of which came on a pass from quarterback Michael Moore, a sophomore seeing his first taste of varsity action in Sullivan’s absence.
Ouandji Nana has historically been Bel Air’s power back; Horton is the team’s speedster. Junior Nathan Finnigan, playing his first game on varsity, filled in for both in the second quarter of Friday’s win. He parted the sea with an eye-popping 57-yard rush, tackled down a yard shy of a house call – just like Blaine.
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“After the first half all the jitters went away and I was able to play to the best of my ability,” Finnigan said. “I hit one move on one guy and the safety was the only guy left to beat. That was all my O-Line.”
Fallston defended the goal line thrice following Finnigan’s explosive run. But on fourth down, Siegel went back to Finnigan for a short rushing touchdown, his first of two.
“I absolutely love the effort that Dylan James and Nathan Finnigan gave,” Siegel said. “Just that little one-two punch, those two kids have been fantastic.”
The Cougars hung around with a few big plays of their own.
There was a trick play that resembled the Philly Special finding Oliver Rueckert for a touchdown in the third quarter that trimmed Bel Air’s lead to eight. Then in the fourth, sophomore quarterback Mike Griffin Jr. aired one out to Zach Loewe for a 65-yard touchdown that again, brought Fallston within one score.
Every meeting between the two goes this way. One team edges out the other in the waning minutes, leaving every fan clenching their jaws and gripping the edge of their seats. The difference this time was the Bobcats’ depth. What does this win say about them?
“Watch out for Bel Air,” James said.
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