Competitive Fire

Owen Fallon knew the moment he’d anticipated for so long would come. He just didn’t know when. What he did know was that when it did, he’d be ready. No, not just ready. One hundred percent ready.

 

“I knew I was on the team for a reason,” the 2022 Collegiate graduate said of the Cougars’ home football game with Woodberry Forest midway through the 2019 season when he was summoned in the second quarter on very short notice to replace Northwestern-bound Nigel Williams, who had suffered a dislocated right thumb. “With Nigel playing both ways and being a big runner, there was always a chance he could go down. I was waiting but hoping he wouldn’t get hurt.”

 

Not long after Fallon stepped into the breach, veteran running back Charles Armstrong sustained a left knee injury that would require surgery, and Donovan Williams, Fallon's classmate who had also bided his time, replaced him. Shorthanded but inspired, the Cougars defeated the Tigers 35-28 in a triple-overtime thriller.

 

“It was definitely a lot of excitement and nerves,” Fallon said. “They can go hand-in-hand, and that’s good. That game did a lot for my confidence. It was like, OK, I can do this.”

 

Fallon would start every game for the remainder of his career. The journey, though, was long and devious and not what he (or anyone else, for that matter) expected.

 

The Cougars finished 5-4 in 2019 and had sky-high hopes for 2020.

 

Alas, Covid claimed the fall season, but Fallon and his teammates dutifully reported to the Robins Campus each afternoon for socially-distanced training and conditioning and, later, flag football, hardly a substitute for the real thing.

 

“I won’t lie to you,” said Fallon, who’s 6-1, 190 pounds and a two-year captain. “It was extremely hard, but it ignited a competitive fire in me that I didn’t really know existed. People always talk about when you lose something, you find out how much you appreciated it. That’s what happened to me.”

 

After a 22-month hiatus, the Cougars began their 2021 season with a 21-0 victory at Goochland. Fallon connected on 13 of 16 passes for 257 yards for two touchdowns and no interceptions.

 

“That win was awesome not only for me and the team but for the school,” Fallon said. “Having that atmosphere at Goochland was incredible.”

 

The Cougars ended the year 5-5.  Fallon, who earned the team’s most valuable offensive player award, completed 99 of 172 passes for 1,644 yards and 15 touchdowns against nine interceptions and scored six rushing touchdowns.

 

“Overall, the season didn’t go the way we wanted in terms of winning games, but it was by far the most fun I’ve ever had in a season,” Fallon said. “In a lot of ways, it was the seniors’ job not just to win games but put Collegiate football back on track. When you don’t play for an entire year, there’re a lot of holes to fill. I’d like to think we did that.”

 

While the Covid season brought out the competitive zeal in Fallon, likewise, in an unexpected way, did the Cougars’ finale, a 48-14 loss to St. Christopher’s. Though he took many a solid shot during the season, he always prided himself on bouncing up and returning to the huddle, but the last he sustained that November afternoon resulted in torn ligaments in his left ankle. He would not return to action.

 

“This time, there was no way,” he said. “It leaves a bad taste in your mouth when you lose that bad to your rival school, and it’s the first injury that put me out for an extended period of time. That was super haunting to me and still is, but it’s fuel for my next four years.”

 

On August 10, Fallon reports to camp at Denison University, a Division III North Coast Athletic Conference signatory located in Granville, Ohio. He’s dedicated this summer to following the demanding and detailed training plan provided by the Big Red coaching staff.

 

The workouts, he said, have been higher frequency and intensity and involve much more running, mainly sprint intervals, than he’s experienced in the past. He’s thrown almost daily to former teammates John Ballowe (Dartmouth) and Hunter Milligan (Naval Academy) as well as his dad John and also worked out with Malcolm Bell, his quarterback trainer.

 

“It’s been a good summer,” he said. “The first week, you don’t want to be that guy who’s cramping from all the running. I feel like I’m on track for August 10.”

 

Preparation, of course, has a mental component as well.

 

“Covid prepared me for a lot of things,” he said. “When you deal with something like that, you can deal with anything. I can deal with an interception because I missed an entire season of football. A pick isn’t the end of the world.”

 

He draws strength, too, from conversations with Alex Peavey, his mindfulness guru.

 

“I’ve tried to be more even-keeled.” Fallon said. “Obviously, you want to be passionate, but as a quarterback and leader of the offense, you don’t want to be too high or too low. That’s where I really work to improve. If you throw an interception, just run the next play. Throw a touchdown. Great. Run the next play. Have a short memory. That’s something that can get you through a lot of tough games.”

 

The Big Red take their football seriously. They won the NCAC in 2019, missed the 2020 season, then finished second in 2021. Drew Dawkins, who's using his fifth year of eligibility, is projected to start at quarterback, so for Fallon, it’s back to the sideline to watch, learn, wait, and dream of making his mark, just as he did before.

 

“Collegiate has been my home,” he said. “After watching all the successful quarterbacks that have come through here when I was growing up and then becoming that guy…it was very special.  I’ll never forget, and I’ll never take the opportunity to be the starting quarterback for granted.”

 ~Weldon Bradshaw