Fallert scores 7 TDs as Valle tops Miller

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November 10, 2012

Fallert scores 7 TDs as Valle tops Miller

Anonymous The Joplin Globe The Joplin Globe Sat Nov 10, 2012, 11:46 PM CST

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. — Tyler Fallert rushed for 311 yards and seven touchdowns as No. 5 Valle Catholic outlasted No. 3 Miller 48-25 in a Class 1 quarterfinal game Saturday.

Fallert, a 6-foot, 200-pound senior, scored four touchdowns in the second half after Miller cut Valle’s lead to 22-17 midway through the third quarter.

“We put as many people in there to stop him as we could,” said Miller head coach Dustin Baldwin. “He was a difference maker. You take him out of the game and we win by two touchdowns.

“It was just big plays,” he said. “He’s a big kid. He ran through some tackles and was gone. They didn’t consistently drive the ball. It was just big plays.”

Miller quarterback Dalton Gulick completed 15 of 37 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns. He rushed for 70 yards on 21 carries, and teammate Brenden Richardson gained 68 yards on 12 carries.

Valle (11-2) built a 22-3 lead in the first half on three touchdown runs by Fallert and a safety when Valle blocked a Miller punt that was covered by a Miller player in the end zone.

The Cardinals (12-1), who scored on a 31-yard field goal by Jordan Jack in the first quarter, cut Valle’s lead to 22-10 just before halftime with a 60-yard drive that ended with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Gulick to Derrick Estell.

Jack’s field goal came after a Miller punt was downed at the Valle 1-yard line. Miller then recovered a Valle fumble inside the 5 but had to settle for a field goal.

Miller got the ball to start the second half and drove for another touchdown. Gulick’s 6-yard touchdown run pulled the Cardinals to within 22-17 with eight minutes left in the third quarter.

“We did exactly what we needed to do,” Baldwin said. “We were going into the wind and we needed to keep the ball. From there, it was the Tyler Fallert Show.”

Fallert, who has rushed for 2,525 yards as a senior, scored on touchdown runs of 1, 78, 32 and 55 yards in the second half as the Warriors opened a 48-17 lead.

Miller added a touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 12-yard pass from Gulick to tight end Chris Collins, and scored on a 2-point conversion pass from Gulick to Estell.

“It has been a great year and a great group of kids,” Baldwin said. “They put everything they had into it. When they make that kind of commitment, you really don’t lose. It was fun coaching them.”