Soccer
Favorite athlete: Cristiano Ronaldo
Favorite team: Manchester United
Favorite memory competing in sports: Being a captain and getting first team All-SOL last year
Most embarrassing moment competing in sports: Missing the bus for an away game by accident
Music on playlist: Lucki, Lil Baby, Ken Carson
Future plans: Go to a 4-year college and also play soccer
Words to live by: Everything happens for a reason
One goal before I turn 30: Graduate from college and get a job
One thing people don’t know about me: I have always shared my bedroom with my brother.
By Mary Jane Souder
Jake Fallon – then a small, skinny kid – was hardly an imposing figure when he stepped onto the soccer field as a freshman. But the now Neshaminy senior impressed his coaches enough to earn a spot on the varsity.
“He doesn’t look like he’s got much behind him, but he’s a pretty tough kid,” Neshaminy coach Tom Foley said. “He played in the center midfield, and he had a pretty good season.
“For a freshman, he held his own against varsity players. He got a lot of time because that was the year we really, really struggled. He got a lot of time and exposure.”
Three years later, Fallon is a senior captain and anchoring the defense at center back, a new position he assumed as a junior.
“He’s used to playing center midfield, and we were scratching our heads – ‘Who could we put at center back?’” Foley said. “We thought of Jake. We said, ‘Hey, have you ever played center back?’ And he’s like, ‘No.’
“But without us even telling him, the first scrimmage we had – he went back and played center back, and he was a natural at it. We kept him back there, and he earned first-team all-league, and he’s having a real solid season this year and is a good candidate for first team again.”
Fallon’s journey from promising freshman to senior captain and leader, however, was not without adversity. As a sophomore, he went down during tryouts at Neshaminy, where – one day earlier – his younger sister Samantha was taken off the field with a dislocated knee.
“We were scrimmaging, and I went for the ball, and then it was just really weird, honestly,” Fallon said. “I could just tell that it was going to be really bad. They had to carry me off the field on a [stretcher].”
A trip to the hospital resulted in a diagnosis that would sideline Fallon until March – a broken tibia and fibula.
“It was definitely really tough,” he said. “I couldn’t walk for over a month, so I couldn’t go to school for the first couple weeks of the school year.”
Fallon did rejoin his team late in the season that fall.
“But I was there just to support them,” he said.
When he returned at the end of March, Fallon was not at full strength.
“I went back to physical therapy again just to make sure everything was perfect,” he said.
By the start of his junior season, Fallon was healthy and ready to go.
“I was a little nervous to get back into it, but then I started playing and getting my confidence back up, and it went way better after that,” he said.
It was during summer training before his junior season that Fallon made the move to center back, where he was a natural fit.
“He sees the ball, and he sees the field really well from the back line,” Foley said. “It’s different from when he was a midfielder. He plays best when the play is in front of him, and he knows where to go. He knows when to step in front.
“He’s got good speed, he keeps the ball contained really well. He rarely overcommits, and then when he gets the ball, he’s one of the kids in the back that can get the ball out with a purpose. A lot of the average backs are just getting it and winning it and knocking it up the field without purpose. Jake has purpose when he strikes the ball, and that helps us a lot. It gets us moving better than having to compete for a 50-50 ball.”
*****
For Fallon, soccer has been a constant for almost as long as he can remember. It’s been something of a family affair with his older brother and sister playing before him and his younger sister also choosing the sport. Soccer
has been a passion for the senior captain since he began playing when he was four, and he doesn’t anticipate that changing any time soon, with plans to continue playing at the collegiate level.
A member of the National Honor Society, Fallon is a strong student.
“I definitely want to go to a school where I could get a good education and also play soccer,” he said. “I just really enjoy playing it, and I like playing with my friends as well.
“The injury really made me realize that anything can happen, and you just gotta enjoy it while you can play.”
Listening to Foley tell it, the college that eventually lands Fallon will be getting more than a soccer player.
“He’s just a real model citizen, good kid, really good in the classroom,” the Neshaminy coach said. “He’s not the most vocal kid in the world, but he’s got a sense of humor, and the kids really look up to him.”
“Obviously, I’m not the most talkative person,” Fallon said. “So, I really just try to lead and show hard work.”
Foley sees it every day.
“He works his butt off every practice,” the coach said. “He’s always at the top of all our fitness training. He’s an indispensable player.
“We don’t take him off the field very often – maybe when we have a big lead, but he definitely is our quarterback back there, and when he leaves, he will certainly be missed. We’re going to have to scratch our heads to see who we’re going to put back there again because he did the job for two years and did it really well.”