Falcons find traction in 4th quarter

DONNELLSON — It was one of those plays that could swing the momentum of the game at just the right time.
Quincy Collins spoiled that.
Collins rushed for 364 yards and five touchdowns, with three of those scores coming in the fourth quarter, as West Burlington-Notre Dame defeated Central Lee 34-13 on Friday night.
The Hawks (4-2, 1-2 Class 2A District 5) kept the Falcons (5-1, 2-1) close until the fourth quarter despite the way Collins was chewing up yards.
The play that looked to give Central Lee a spark came late in the third quarter. Bo Herdrich roared in to block a punt in WB-ND territory. The ball caromed to Will Hayes, who raced 34 yards for a touchdown. And even though the Hawks missed the extra point and trailed 14-13, it almost felt like they had taken the lead.
“I thought that was going to be the difference,” Central Lee coach Doug Dodds said.
Instead Collins, who had been contained in the third quarter, took over.
Collins’ 52-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter boosted the Falcons’ lead to 21-13. He then added touchdown runs of 47 and 18 yards to close the scoring.
“He busted a big play (for the first touchdown), then busted another big play with good field position,” Dodds said. “We’ve got to do better in those situations.”

Collins, who had 171 rushing yards in the first half, had been held to 62 yards on 12 carries to open the second half — 35 yards coming on two runs early in the third quarter — before breaking out for that first touchdown.
“I mean, we had held him in check (in the second half) to that point,” Dodds said. “We had made some adjustments, and then they made some adjustments.”
Collins set a tone with 49 yards on his first two carries of the game, and had touchdown runs of 15 and 3 yards in the first half, the second score coming 26 seconds before halftime.
“We stayed right with them in the first half,” Dodds said. “We forced some turnovers, but we had some too that cost us.”
Central Lee lost two fumbles inside WB-ND’s 20-yard line in the first half, but got a touchdown from Chase Johnson to tie the game at 7 midway through the second quarter.
“We played our game to start,” Dodds said. “We used the clock, we played good defense, we did the things we did. We made them work, won the turnover battle, although we had a couple of turnovers too.”
Central Lee had 173 rushing yards and 51 passing yards, but it wasn’t enough to counter what Collins, who topped the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season, was doing.
“He’s a really good running back who’s hard to bring down,” Dodds said.
The Homecoming loss came in the final home game of the season for the Hawks, who play at Mid-Prairie next Friday before closing the regular season October 18 at Mediapolis.
“Mid-Prairie is a good football team, and they’ve got some great athletes,” Dodds said. “Our kids do the right things, respond the right way. And we plan on that happening as we go back to work next week, and we’ll see what happens.”