Fallon score early, often against Elko

The Greenwave didn’t disappoint this year’s Hall of Fame class that was introduced before Friday’s kickoff.

On Fallon’s first play of Northern 3A game against archrival Elko, quarterback Elijah Jackson hit Tommy McCormick with a rainbow-arching pass. McCormick then outraced the Elko secondary for a 70-yard touchdown.

The game continued to paint a dark cloud against Elko while the radiant full moon smiled down on the No. 1-ranked team.

Jackson wasn’t finished with that touchdown pass. He threw two more strikes and ran for another as Fallon shut out Elko 49-0 at the Edward Arciniega Athletic Complex. League-leading Fallon improves to 6-1 overall and 6-0 in the Northern 3A, while Elko drops to 4-3 and 3-3 in league.

The Greenwave defense blanked its second straight opponent and during the past three games, Fallon has allowed only one touchdown. Fallon kept Elko to under 100 yards total offense — 46 yards rushing and 23 passing.

“One touchdown and three games. Our defense trusts each other,” said running back and receiver Brock Richardson. “We’re confident. Our guys will make the plays.”

McCormick agreed.

“We have figured a lot out and changed,” he said, referring to the first half of the season. “Our players are physical and doing their jobs and not worrying about anyone else.”

Richardson said Elko ran an unorthodox-looking defense.

“We came ready and did a lot of film study,” he added.

Coach Brooke Hill has a Cheshire cat smile at halftime with Fallon shutting out Elko.

“The defense played physical,” he said. “The defensive line is getting better … and having that week off (a bye week) got everyone healthy.”

The highly recruited Jackson also tossed a 2-yard pass to McCormick for Fallon’s second touchdown in the first quarter to give the Wave a 13-0 lead. With Fallon sputtering on its second drive midway during the second quarter, Jackson hooked up again with McCormick, this time on a 63-yard pass play that put the Wave ahead 35-0 after Samuel Robertson nailed the extra point. With Fallon leading by 35 points, the rest of the game was played with a running clock.

Sandwiched between Jackson’s two passes were a pair of touchdowns scored by Richardson, who led all rushers with 74 yards. As time expired in the first quarter, Richardson dove in from the 2-yard line, and in the second quarter, he slipped out of the grasp of several tacklers and raced 21 yards to the end zone.

Jackson scored his fourth touchdown in the third quarter by stretching across the goal line from the 1-yard line.

Jackson was near perfect in the passing game, completing 11 of 13 for 222 yards, most of those going to McCormick who snagged seven passes for 179 yards. In the ground game, Jackson pounded the turf for 57 yards.

“Part of the plan this week was to throw the ball a little bit more because of what they do on defense,” Hill said of Elko. “We were able to do that, and that opened the run came and that’s what we thought it would do.”

McCormick felt more than satisfied with his performance on offense.

“We were running our go routes and knew they were man to man,” McCormick said. We knew our receivers can beat their players.”

On the game’s first touchdown, McCormick thought Jackson was throwing to Richardson.

“It was thrown deep to me,” McCormick said with a grin.

Richardson said McCormick easily beat his defender, and Jackson put the ball up for a touchdown.

Second-string quarterback Avery Strasdin played the part of the third and all of the fourth quarter. He scored Fallon’s final touchdown on an 11-yard run.

The Greenwave defense harassed Elko throughout the game and continually put pressure on Elko quarterback Jake Zeller, who completed 3 of 6 passes for 23 yards. Cameron Marvel had two receptions for 26 yards, and Kaiden Cervantes was thrown for a 3-yard loss on his only reception.

Nick Kinder led Elko with 27 yards rushing on seven carries, and Rolando Acosta added 23 yards on 10 carries.