ELDRED — From the opening kickoff to the final whistle, Fallsburg and Eldred brought their all to the field on Friday night. What began with a long kick return and touchdown drive for the Yellowjackets ended with Fallsburg’s first 3-0 start in program history.

It only took two plays from scrimmage for Eldred to put points on the board, after a long opening kick return started the drive at the Fallsburg 35 yard line. After just a minute and two seconds had gone by in the game, Eldred’s QB Josh Warming punched in the touchdown with a 36-yard run.

Eldred attempted an unsuccessful onside kick, allowing Fallsburg to also start with good field position. Nick Storms found Donovan Hart, as he has so many times through the first three games, for the first Comets score, tying the game at 6 apiece after an unsuccessful 2-point attempt.

Eldred got the ball back after the equalizing score, and Fallsburg intercepted a forced pass over the middle on third and long to regain possession.

Fallsburg seemingly found the end zone on a long rushing touchdown, but it was called back because of a holding penalty.

Penalties continued to slow down the Fallsburg drive, ultimately giving them a 4th and 19, but after a second passing touchdown from Storms to Hart, Fallsburg took a 12-6 lead with 8:56 left in the second quarter.

Eldred’s next drive lasted more than five minutes, but ultimately led to a turnover on downs deep in Fallsburg territory. Fallsburg followed up with a three and out, punting it back to the Yellowjackets. Eldred fumbled on the ensuing drive, setting the Comets up in the Red Zone just before halftime. On the last play of the half, Hart laid out in the end zone on another passing touchdown from Storms to give Fallsburg an 18-6 lead at the break.

Eldred kicked off to start the second half, perfectly placing and recovering an onside kick. They drove through Fallsburg territory and Tyiese Mack-Simms punched in a TD run to make it 18-12 with 7:16 remaining in the third.

Right after cutting the score down to a one possession game, Eldred followed it up with a second successful onside kick recovery, keeping Fallsburg’s high-powered offense off the field.

Eldred began driving again, looking to equalize, but a Red Zone interception gave the Comets the ball with 2:51 to play in the third.

Fallsburg ended the quarter with a 4th down conversion to keep their drive alive heading into the final frame, and the Comets punched it in just 22 seconds into the fourth quarter to take a 26-12 lead after a successful 2-point conversion.

Eldred followed up quickly with a scoring drive of their own, capping it off with a passing touchdown from Koen McGill to Connor Ranaudo on a 4th and 15 conversion, and a successful 2-point conversion to cut the Fallsburg lead down to six.

The Yellowjackets followed it up with their first deep kick of the night, pinning the Comets deep in their own territory with 6:30 to play. On a few occasions in the final minutes, Fallsburg was forced into 3rd down situations, but they converted and were able to run out the clock after converting a third down with just over a minute to play before setting up in victory formation.

Eldred suffered their first loss of the season, but will look to get back in the win column Saturday as they take on Tri-Valley.

Fallsburg is off to a 3-0 start and will be headed to Lake Huntington on Friday night to take on the Bulldogs.

“They’re explosive,” Eldred Coach Sean McAveney said of Fallsburg’s offense. “Coach Scanna has done a great job over there. Our gameplan was to force them to drive and hopefully make some mistakes, but they played a clean game. We have a young team, and we got our first home win since 2018 to start the season, which was one of our goals.”

Coach Scanna shared some thoughts after the win saying, “It was gritty. The mistakes on our end were aggressive, and the team made some great plays. We’re a team that’s going to work hard from the first snap to the final whistle. These kids are gentlemen and they work hard every day.”

Scanna added, “I have nothing but respect for Eldred, it’s nice to see both of us playing well.”