The Millennium Falcons go into their last two games of the regular season with the message that they’re a team to be reckoned with in the Harvest Christian League.

They sent that message to the Eagles from Elliot Christian High of Lodi on Saturday night with a 41-8 win. Players said that the win is more than a confidence boost. It affirms that the Falcons, in their second year of HCL play, are prepared to lead the league into the post-season.

“We wanted to come out and get respect,” junior running back and linebacker Andrew Sanabria said. “So we came out here hard on offense and defense. They had a couple good drives but we kept our heads up and we stopped them.”

It’s the fifth win in a row for the Falcons (5-3, 3-0 HCL), but anything less would put the Falcons at a disadvantage as they go for their first appearance in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V/VI playoffs.

“Tonight we came out with a purpose of making a statement to our league that we are here and we’re going to make playoffs this year,” junior safety Richie Raya said.

The Falcons now share first place with Brookside Christian of Stockton, but need at least one more win to be assured of a playoff spot. Millennium goes to Modesto Friday to face Big Valley Christian, another traditional league leader, and will play Brookside at home on Nov. 14.

“We’ve got to take it one game at a time,” senior running back and linebacker Steven Percelle said. “We don’t want to get big-headed. I know I don’t, so we’re going to get ready for Big Valley next week and hope we do the same thing.”

On Saturday the Falcons set aside their usual passing game and opted to move the ball on the ground. Millennium covered 237 yard rushing with five touchdowns, including three Steven Percelle, who ran the ball five times for 109 yards, and one each from Sanabria and Jonny Rojas. The only pass completion of the night was when quarterback Josh Moore’s reached Kylie Duncan in the end zone from 9 yards out during the third quarter. Brandon Haynes went five-for-six on point-after kicks.

The Falcons also put up a consistent defense, with Pedro DeRobles logging 15 tackles and an interception and Percelle with 12 tackles. DeRobles said that even with a substantial lead the team wasn’t going to ease up.

“We never look at the scoreboard. The score is always 0-0. We just dominate on defense. That’s our motivation,” he said. “We always get hyped up and we always play every game like it’s our last.”

The Eagles looked like they could be the first team on the scoreboard before Millennium senior Duncan picked off one of Elliot quarterback John Johnson’s passes and ran it back 64 yards to the Elliot 17-yard line. From there Percelle took the ball around the right for the score.

After holding the Eagles on the next series, Haynes brought the punt return back 33 yards and Rojas broke through the Eagle defense for a 20-yard run. That helped put the Falcons in position for Percelle’s 4-yard push up the middle for his second touchdown.

At the start of the second quarter Sanabria tried a run up the middle, but when he found the route closed he scrambled around the left instead and ran in 37 yards for the Falcons’ third touchdown.

The Eagles started to make progress until some hard-hitting Falcon defenders, including Hugo Esquivel, who sacked Johnson for a 6-yard loss, stopped them at the Elliot 42-yard line. Percelle followed with a 21-yard run, and Rojas also ran 21 yards to the right for the touchdown, which made the score 27-0 at the half.

Elliot’s rushing game worked in the first part of the third quarter, but Millennium’s defense, including sacks from Sanabria and Joe Harsch, kept the Eagles from getting to far. Big runs from Sanabria and Rojas set up Moore’s touchdown pass to Duncan.

The Eagles again executed a steady drive through the first part of the fourth quarter but still weren’t able to get past the Falcon 34-yard line. On the next play after the Falcons got the ball back on downs, Percelle found room on the left side to run it 66 yards for Millennium’s sixth touchdown.

As the fourth quarter came to the close the Eagles’ Johnson found his receivers Timothy Parrish and Antoine Dabill to help bring the Eagles to within inches of the goal line, where Roman Butler made the final push for the touchdown and Johnson connected with Parrish for the 2-point conversion.