Atwater bounces Beyer

ATWATER -- A season ago, Atwater might have opted to punt.

Up 28-20 with 2 minutes, 32 seconds to play in the game and kicker Jorge Medina a little banged up, Falcons head coach Bob Valladao decided not to try a field goal.

Instead he put the ball in the hands of his new-look offense on a fourth-and-8 at the Beyer 28-yard line.

Javier Lopez rewarded him with an 11-yard run and first down. Lopez put the game away three plays later with an 11-yard touchdown run as Atwater handed Beyer a 35-20 loss at Falcon Field on Friday night.

"We had the wind at our backs and were going to kick the field goal," Valladao said. "Medina had taken a hit to his shin, but I still thought he could make it.

"After talking it over we felt like they were tiring a little bit and could finish them off on that drive."

There was a reason the Patriot defense began wearing down.

Atwater (2-1) pounded Beyer (2-2) with a steady dose of run out of its Shotgun Wing-T, rushing for 178 of its 304 rushing yards in the second half.

Dallas Hoofard (14 carries 123 yards), Shane Lambert (14-85) and Lopez (11-81) did the bulk of the damage.

It was the Lambert show early as he punched in a 2-yard touchdown run on the opening possession of the game and then connected with Carlos Maldonado (5 catches for 76 yards and two touchdowns) on a 37-yard halfback pass on the Falcons' next possession.

Just as Atwater threatened to blow its guests out of Falcon Field, Beyer quarterback McKay Marshall led a 10-play, 65-yard touchdown drive that Aden Ruiz capped with a 1-yard run.

That was pretty much it for the Patriots in the first half, though.

Despite coming into the game with gaudy numbers, Atwater limited Marshall to just 8 of 21 passing for 120 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.

Trevor Coleman led the swarm, recording three of the team's six sacks and forcing one of the Patriots' five turnovers with an interception.

"All week the guys new what we would face and they were excited for the challenge," Valladao said. "They have some athletes and we contained them pretty well."

Maldonado caught another touchdown pass just before the half and Lambert added a third score to make it 28-14 at the end three quarters