Fort Calhoun High School football coach Zach Byrd believes his team came to understand what it can accomplish Friday during a 22-14 homecoming game loss.
The Pioneers trailed Boys Town 22-0 at halftime, but battled back with a 14-0 third and fourth quarter. The home team pulled within eight points with 2:02 left in the ballgame, but it couldn't get the ball back from the Cowboys before time ran out.
“I think we just realized we had the ability to play with them,” Byrd said of the second-half turnaround. “Our defense was making them work for it. We just needed to find a way to stay on the field offensively.”
Two second-half touchdowns proved FCHS could keep quarterback Adam Elofson and company on the field.
“We found some things that allowed us to move the sticks,” Byrd confirmed.
Trailing 22-0, the Pioneers first scored with 5:56 left in the third quarter. Elofson did his best to avoid Boys Town defenders on the play, dumping the ball off to Blake Welchert, who made a move to get back to the line of scrimmage and evaded tacklers on his way to a 6-yard score.
It took time, but Calhoun found the end zone again during the fourth quarter. With 122 seconds left, Elofson hit a quick pass to Andrew Namuth, who absorbed some indirect contact and scored from 15 yards out. Kaiden Rodriguez's second extra-point kick of the game pulled the Pioneers within one score.
FCHS just couldn't regain possession of the ball as the Cowboys earned the necessary first down to play keep away for the rest of regulation.
“Overall, I think we learned quite a bit about ourselves tonight,” Byrd said after his team's first loss of 2024. “We need to clean up some things like always, but we have the ability to play at a high level and do some really great things this year.”
Even in defeat, the coach found out again how his Pioneers don't give up easy.
“I never question our kids' toughness,” he said. “That's one thing I've always been impressed with since I've been here.”
Fort Calhoun next plays at Pierce on Friday. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
BOYS TOWN 22, FORT CALHOUN 14
BT (3-0) 8 14 0 0 — 22
FC (2-1) 0 0 7 7 — 14
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
BT: Marqas Gray 16-yard pass from Nyree Poteet-Brown, Darien Whitaker 2-point conversion
Second Quarter
BT: Whitaker 2-yard run, Whitaker 2-point conversion
BT: Whitaker 6-yard run, PAT failed
Third Quarter
FC: Blake Welchert 6-yard pass from Adam Elofson, Kaiden Rodriguez PAT
Fourth Quarter
FC: Andrew Namuth 15-yard pass from Elofson, Rodriguez PAT
