Whoever said, "Everything evens out" didn't know what they were talking about. Or at least they didn't experience the Falcons 2009 football season. UW-RF opened the season by hosting national powerhouse St. John's. The Falcons led by 10 points with 9 minutes left in the game, but gave up two touchdown in a 5 minute span, losing a hard-fought 24-14 game. Foreshadowing? Possibly, as the Falcons lost 4 WIAC games by a TOTAL of 8 points in 2009!
The strength of the Falcon's 09 team was their ability to run the football. UW-RF rushed for 180.9 yards per game and 21 TD's last year. The Falcons return 8 starters from an offensive unit that ranked 3rd in the WIAC in rushing and 4th in scoring a year ago. Junior tailback Taylor Edwards returns having rushed for 1076 yards and 9 TD's a year ago. Quarterback Ryan Luessenheide also return. Luessenheide completed 50% of his passes for 1,535 yards and 10 TD's a year ago. He also ran for 322 yards and 5 TD's. The return of WR's Michael Woodward (34 catches, 486 yds, 2 TD) and Wade Schlicting (23 catches, 251 yds, 2 TD) will help. However, the Falcons lose First Team All WIAC tight end Ryan Hansen.
The defensive unit for UW-RF struggled for the most part in 2009. The Falcons ranked last in WIAC scoring defense, giving up 32.5 ppg last year. To make things even more challenging for veteran Coach John O'Grady, the Falcons lose 8 starters from that group, including linebackers Cole Lowell and Ben Arata who both received recognition on the All Conference team.
The Falcons clearly have enough firepower on offense to be a dangerous WIAC opponent on "any given Saturday". However, the Falcons must find a way to keep opponents out of the end zone if they hope to turn those narrow defeats into victories and crack the top half of the conference standings in 2010.
Both Michael Woodward and Wade Schlicting are out this year.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update!
ReplyDelete