Apaches bounced from playoffs
By Hub City Times staff
ABBOTSFORD – For the second straight season, the Auburndale Apaches were eliminated in the high school football playoffs by the Abbotsford Falcons. Abby defeated Auburndale 26-21 in a Division 6, Level 2 playoff contest Nov. 1 at Abbotsford High School. The loss came a year after the Falcons beat the Apaches 54-6 in a round two playoff contest in 2018.
This year’s contest was much closer. The Falcons grabbed an early 8-0 lead after recovering an onside kick to start the game. They covered 52 yards in four plays, and scored on a 15-yard run by Cade Faber. Auburndale responded on their first possession. The Apaches went 61 yards in nine plays, and scored on a three-yard touchdown run by quartberback Cooper Weinfurter. A PAT by Hunter Wright cut Abbotsford’s lead to 8-7.
Auburndale then gave the Falcons a taste of their own medicine, when they successfully converted an onside kick. But Abby’s defense held the Apaches to a 3-and-out. The Falcons then went on an 83-yard drive, scoring on a one-yard run by quarterback Dalton Feddick. After a failed two-point conversion attempt, Abby led 14-7 after one quarter.
The Apaches came right back on their next possession, and used 11 plays to go 60 yards in 4:46, and scored on a one-yard run by RB Kyle Peterson to tie the game at 14 midway through the second quarter. The Apaches then took the lead five minutes later, after they had recovered an Abbotsford fumble. Auburndale went 68 yards in seven plays, and scored on a 31-yard pass from Weinfuter to Dylan Paun, putting the Apaches ahead 21-14 at halftime.
But, Abbotsford’s defense and ball control by the Falcons dominated the second half, keeping the Apaches out of the end zone the rest of the way. The Falcons opened up the third quarter with an 11-play, 71-yard drive, scoring on a seven-yard run by Faber. The two-point conversion attempt was unsuccessful, as Abby pulled to within one at 21-20 with 6:14 remaining in the third quarter.
On their first play from scrimmage in the second half, Abby’s defense intercepted a Cooper Weinfurter pass at their own 43-yard line, which the Falcons turned into points nine plays later, when Ty Falteisek scored from four yards out with 1:32 remaining in the third quarter. Another failed two-point conversion attempt made it 26-21 Falcons, and that lead held throughout the fourth quarter.
After Falteisek’s TD, the Apaches went on a drive that stalled after nine plays. Then Abby went on one of their longest drives of the season. And even though it did not result in points, the 16-play drive – which ended on a failed 30-yard field goal attempt – chewed up 9:03 off the clock, and left Auburndale with almost no time to mount another comeback attempt. The Apaches got the ball back with just over a minute left, and Weinfurter was intercepted again on the second play of the drive, effectively ending the game.
Auburndale was eliminated from the playoffs in the second round for the third straight year. The Apaches ended their season 8-3, and suffered their fifth-straight loss to Abbotsford dating back to 2003. The Falcons, meanwhile, will host a level 3 playoff game for the first time in school history, when they face No. 6 Coleman at Abbotsford High School on Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. The Falcons are 11-0 and the No. 1 seed in their bracket.