GORHAM – The defensive scheme used by Mountain Valley defensive coordinator Ryan Casey in Saturday’s 14-8 win over Gorham wasn’t complex, but it was certainly difficult to carry out.

Gorham’s double wing offense used tight blocking and backfield deception all season long to leave their opponents scratching their heads. Casey and the Falcon coaching staff stressed being disciplined in reading keys instead of trying to find the ball. Staying discplined was preached over and over again.

“They’re very deceptive if you start peeking in the backfield,” said Casey. “Everything (we had) for defensive fronts all had the same ending. It was a pretty simple philosophy- read your keys and then have as many players as you can going forward.”

Head coach Jim Alyward echoed Casey’s words.

“When the kids learn how to play in youth football, they’re taught to find the ball,” said Alyward. “There’s no real secret to stopping the double wing. You need to read your keys and be disciplined. Then you have to tackle big strong kids.”

The keys used by the Falcons centered around the Rams guards. The defensive philosophy instilled in the Falcons by the coaching staff was to watch which way the guards first step took them.

“The guards took us to the play,” said Falcon middle linebacker Travis Fergola who unofficially finished the game with 12 solo tackles and eight assists.

While Gorham’s backfield tandem of Tyson Nason and Andy Oldenburg did gain 132 and 109 yards respectively, they did not have explosive games. In fact, 48 of Nason’s yards came on Gorham’s only touchdown. Oldenburg picked up 53 of his yards on two long runs. Both backs entered the game averaging double digits in yards per carry.

The Falcons’ offense was effective in that the Rams were forced to travel the length of the field on many of their possessions. The Rams often put together a pair of first downs, but they only managed 13 for the game.

With Casey making the defensive calls, Fergola and his mates carried out the plan. When Casey called for a 5-3 stack, Fergola would hide behind nose tackle Brendan Bradley and shoot a gap. Not knowing which way Fergola was going made him more difficult to block. On the Rams’ next-to-last drive, Fergola made three unassisted tackles for either a loss or no gain. Twice he shot through the line to take down Oldenburg with solo tackles. Gorham eventually punted the ball away.

“He’s the reason they won the game,” said Gorham coach Dave Kilborn of Fergola. “He was my choice as player of the year. We always tried to make sure he was accounted for on every play. He did a great job of sliding across and they hid him well in the middle.”

With the clock winding down and Gorham knocking on the Mountain Valley goal, Casey went out to the defensive huddle during the Rams’ final timeout.

“I told the kids that this is what you wanted,” he said. “You guys got your name in the paper (this week). Now let’s see what you can do.”

As Zach Fergola came down with the fourth down interception in the end zone on the final play of the game to seal the victory, the biggest fan of all on the Mountain Valley side rushed onto the field.

“I was just proud that I had a great seat to watch it,” said Casey.