August Martin’s first two offensive drives ended with interceptions. Unfortunately for the Falcons, not much else went right for them the rest of the way, as they dropped their season opener, a PSAL non-league game, 34-0, to the higher-level A Conference Eagle Academy for Young Men II Sunday at Springfield High School, in Queens.
Several of the players on August Martin, a B Conference team, played their very first organized football game, and will be a work in progress. But Falcon Head Coach Kyle Allen said he is not overly concerned at this point in the season.
“You have to remember, 18 of the 28 kids played their first football game of their lives,” Allen said. “Same situation I’ve been in the past. Last year, we lost to the same Eagle team early in the year. We were working on things, and (then) we went undefeated to the quarterfinals. So, we’ll be fine. We just need to fix a few things.”
The Eagles (1-0) got on the scoreboard with a 20-yard touchdown pass and a successful two-point play for an 8-0 lead late in the first quarter.
After August Martin (0-1) muffed a kickoff, Eagle Academy scored on another TD pass for a 14-0 advantage early in the second period.
The Eagles hit paydirt again on a one-yard rush to widen the gap to 21-0 with a little less than eight minutes to go in the third quarter.
Falcon senior quarterback Glorious Enabulele, who is new to the position, threw two pick-sixes, one of which ended the tilt at 34-0.
Junior running back Hunter “Sauce” Gardner was a bright spot for August Martin, rushing in the neighborhood of 100 yards.
Not to get lost in the shuffle of the football game, at halftime, the Falcons, along with her mother, Cherone Coleman, in attendance, honored firefighters Pena, John Sommerville and Jimmy Sabin from Ladder 135/Engine 302, as well as a local police officer.
The team bestowed the heroic group with a special glass cube, with an engraved sketched photo of Autumn Coleman, a Rochdale Village girl who perished in a car fire set by her father, in South Jamaica, Queens, in May of 2018, and a number 3 Falcons jersey in remembrance of the little angel.
The four emergency first responders made a valiant effort in an attempt to save the life of the three-year-old, whom Allen said that the program has retired the number 3 jersey and play for Coleman, who had never had a chance to enjoy life to the fullest, every time they hit the gridiron.
August Martin is scheduled to travel to the Bronx’s Truman High School on Saturday at noon to face A.P. Randolph in another non-league contest.
— Written by Jerry Del Priore, who also took the photos and video.
Brooklyn Sports World/NY NJ Sports World 