On a Friday when Polo and Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland fought hard for supremacy of the line of scrimmage, special teams provided the early gut punch for the Marcos on their way to a 40-20, eight-man win over FCW.

After the Falcons got on the scoreboard with a Brezdyn Simons 1-yard touchdown run to make it an eight-point game early in the second quarter, the Marcos drew up a reverse on the ensuing kickoff that resulted in an 80-yard touchdown for JT Stephenson.

The Falcons would not get closer than two scores for the remainder.

“We’ve been talking about it all week,” senior TE/DE Damon Rowe said. “Getting ready for kickoff, we knew we were going to score on special teams.”

The 80-yard score was one of four touchdowns for Stephenson on the evening - two others were rushing, and another was passing.

“We run a little something,” Stephenson said with a smile about the return play. “It’s awesome.”

Polo coach Ted Alston said the Marcos spend more time in practice on special teams than most high school teams, looking for the edge there.

“We were hoping we could at least take advantage at least once (on Friday),” Alston said. “We had a couple of nice punt returns too, so that was nice to see.”

A 68-yard return by Polo’s Jordan Reed after the first punt of the game set up the Marcos at the 4-yard line. Reed would score three plays later on a five-yard run.

“Those special teams plays early really cost us,” said FCW coach Todd Reed. “You know, you can’t give up touchdowns on special teams, and we kind of shot ourselves in the foot early, but those are things we’ll get back to practice and work on and get better at.”

Despite Polo extending its lead to 26-6 following Stephenson’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Rowe, the Falcons never let up. After a fumble recovery, FCW scored on its first drive, capped off by a 5-yard touchdown run by Logan Ruddy and a two-point conversion reception by Ruddy.

The teams exchanged quick blows early in the fourth quarter ,with Polo’s Quinton Hart scoring on a 45-yard run and FCW’s Simons connecting with Ruddy on the very next play for a 73-yard touchdown pass to make it 34-20.

After a defensive stop, FCW was unable to get any closer, turning it over on downs after four consecutive incompletions. Polo’s Stephenson iced the game with his final touchdown.

“It was a tough game,” Alston said. “I thought both teams played hard. Man, both teams, they were hitting each other. They were getting after each other.”

Alston credited FCW’s offensive line and skill players. He was impressed with how the Marcos responded after running back Jordan Reed was injured and left the game.

“I thought our kids responded and did enough to win,” Alston said. “I thought defensively we played really well. ... I thought our front four was really good again, and I thought our linebackers played well.”

Despite trailing almost the entirety of the game, Reed credited his players for keeping it a two-score game with opportunities to draw it even closer.

“Our guys never gave up,” Reed said. “It was a physical game up front, big time. Both the offensive and defensive lines on both sides were battling all night long. Our guys responded at halftime. I said we need to kick off, get a stop, go down and score, and that’s exactly what we did that got us back in the game.

“Then we just couldn’t put some stops together down the stretch to close the gap.”

Hart finished as Polo’s leading rusher with 78 yards in Jordan Reed’s absence. For FCW, Simons completed 5 of 13 passes for 143 yards, including a touchdown. Ruddy led all receivers with 125 yards.