Foley Falls to Annandale in Section Championship

Foley played Annandale in the Section 5AAA Championship game on Friday night.

The Falcons played on St Cloud Tech in a battle to go to state. They faced one of the top team in all of class AAA and a team who's defense was allowing an average of 4 points per game. But Foley's physicality was going to be a strong point in the game.

Foley was able to hold the high flying Annandale offense to a mere 14 points in the first, despite them having 6 possessions in the half. But sadly the Falcons offense couldn't quite match their output. But their defense came out and proved they could hang with the Cardinals. As a team Foley was able to gain some momentum before half, as they forced a fumble and held Annandale out of the endzone.

The 2nd half got off to a rough start for the Falcons. After a couple decent runs, a penalty set them back, then a fumbled snap turned into an intentional grounding penalty which set them up in 4th and long inside the 5. A holding call in the endzone resulted in a safety and gave Annandale a 16-0 lead. The Cardinals had a good return and a few plays later scored taking a 23-0 lead. Foley would turn the ball over on their next two possessions on an interception and a fumble which both turned into points for Annandale, who took a 37-0 going into the 4th.

Foley started the 4th quarter with the ball, and even though the Annandale defense changed some, their offense was finally able to get back on track. They marched down the field and Brody Kipka was able to plunge into the endzone from 2 yards out to erase the goose egg on the board. Their defense forced the Cardinals to punt, albeit a new offense. They would again march down the field and score again on a Kipka 2 yard plunge putting up 14 on the scoreboard. It was too little too late though, and all Annandale needed to do was kneel out the clock, which they did to finish the game 37-14.

The Falcons graduate a good amount of seniors, who they'll miss, but have a good chunk of returners coming back for next year and another run.

Congrats to Foley on a great season!