I’m old enough to remember when SportsCenter was all about highlights. I’m also young enough to instinctively think “man, you’re old” to people who say “I’m old enough to remember when…”
One of my favorite parts of watching endless reruns of “SportsCenter” as a kid was the late Stuart Scott trying new catchphrases on for size and seeing what fit. My favorite was when Scott would liken something as being “as cool as the other side of the pillow.”
Friday was the second time I’ve covered the Falcons this season after covering the team in five games last year.
Last year’s Falcons, winners of 14 games in an undefeated season and the school’s first state title, were a mighty fine football team.
They were going to punch you in the mouth, score 28 points, terrorize your offense, then put up another 21 points just for the fun of it. The most dangerous part was that everyone in the stadium — including the opposing team — knew it was going to happen.
The 2024 Falcons graduated a ton of players, including the entire six-man offensive line, All-Area quarterback Uriah Cutter and Offensive Player of the Year Jullian Pattison. Defensively, only three starters — Blake Jacobs, Carder Shanholtz and Keiton Nestor — returned.
I don’t think anyone would have been judged for being a little skeptical of the 2025 Falcons, even based solely on what they lost from such a dominant team.
Entering Friday, the undefeated Falcons’ previous opponents’ combined record was 28-32. Only two of the eight teams had a winning record entering Friday, one of which was 5-3 Tucker County, which lost to 1-6 Moorefield and 3-4 Southern (now 4-4).
To shoo away some of the skeptics, Frankfort needed a premier win over a team that no one could ask, “Well, who have they beaten?” about the Falcons’ 2025 schedule.
In stepped Herbert Hoover, winners of 19 of its last 21, with the lone blemishes being in last year’s Class AAA state title game and a 37-34 loss to Independence, Class AA’s top team in the playoff ratings entering Friday, in this year’s season opener.
Frankfort had kept the Huskies’ passing attack at bay, claiming a 3-0 lead into the final minutes of the first half.
That’s when Herbert Hoover quarterback Peyton Grigsby hit Blake Fisher for a gain of 32 on a diving catch and, one play later, a 34-yard strike to KnoSean Hampton for the game’s first touchdown.
The score hit Frankfort about as hard as a feather blowing in the wind.
Braydn Tyler proceeded to return the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for a score to reclaim the lead.
Two plays later, Grigsby again connected with Fisher on an 85-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown and 13-10 lead with 2:30 to go before halftime.
Knowing Herbert Hoover would receive the second-half kickoff, the Falcons had plenty of time to try to even up the score.
They needed just one minute and 15 seconds.
After short gains by Jacobs and Cole Shanholtz, Jacobs took a lick shortly after lofting a pass to Tyler, who hauled it in and ran it 45 yards for a score. Jacobs landed on the cool side of the pillow following the hit, jumping back to his feet and sprinting from midfield to celebrate with teammates.
The Huskies’ aerial attack continued over the final 1:15, however, with Grigsby completing passes of 25 yards to Fisher and 22 yards to Aiden Hernandez to get to the Frankfort 30 with three ticks left. The Falcon secondary, cool as ever, swatted a pass away at the goal line to take a four-point lead into halftime.
“I just told them they did a heck of a job in the first half,” Frankfort head coach Kevin Whiteman said of his halftime team talk. “Proud of their effort, proud of the battle. I reinforced the fact that it was gonna take 48 minutes of hard-nosed football, fighting through the waves of the ups and downs, and the back and forth, and not giving up.”
Coming out of the break, it appeared that the Falcons still didn’t have an answer to Hoover’s passing game. A 19-yard dart to Hampton and a 35-yard strike to Hernandez set up a Lance Williams nine-yard TD catch less than three minutes into the second half to retake the lead, 19-17.
Sometimes the best defense is a good offense, and in this case, it was a persistent offense that prevailed.
As the band played, the “go-go-go” chants from the Frankfort faithful sang and cowbells from the red, white and blue side of the stadium rang, the Falcons stayed cool.
Taking over on its own 27, Frankfort went all 73 yards on 12 plays, including four third-down conversions, with Carder Shanholtz hauling in a 17-yard touchdown pass to give the Falcons the lead for good.
Following the score, there wasn’t anyone on the Frankfort sideline waving their arms to pump up the crowd or a smashing of helmets to get teammates going.
It was right back to work, with the Falcon defense forcing a pair of incompletions and a three-and-out before Tyler scored again, this time on third-and-12, to extend the Frankfort lead.
Following an interception by Jacobs on Hoover’s next play, Carder Shanholtz cooly waltzed into the end zone from 11 yards out with four minutes to play for the Falcons’ final score.
Frankfort wasn’t done with its third-down conversions, with Tyler capping it off with a 53-yard run on third-and-19 to ice the game in the final seconds.
All in all, the Falcons went 13 for 17 on third down, a stat that blew Whiteman’s mind when I asked him about it afterward.
Perhaps it was expected that this Frankfort team would be so different than last year’s.
When Frankfort takes its 23-game win streak on the road next week in the Mineral Bowl, look out onto the field and you might not see a team as big or tough or skilled as last year’s Falcon squad.
But you will see a team that’s willing to go to any length for one another and their coaches, and one who won’t let adversity get in the way of their shared goal.
That’s about as cool of a football team as you can find.