MONTGOMERY, Ala. – After a couple of disheartening losses on the road following its 6-0 start, the Faulkner Eagles desperately needed a Homecoming. They got it today with a 38-20 victory over Kentucky Christian on Homecoming Weekend and Senior Day at Billy D. Hilyer Stadium to wrap up the home slate in the inaugural year of the Rob Gray era and keep the Stone-Campbell Cup in Montgomery for another year.
Faulkner took advantage of a couple early mistakes by the visitors, and was powered by a swarming defense and a dominant run game to get back in the win column. The Eagles' attack on the ground, again anchored by Hunter Gibson, Charles Blackmon Jr. and Devon Murry, found headway in the form of 222 yards, on an afternoon where, outside of a few drives, the passing game was uncharacteristically stagnant. The opposite was true for the rival Knights, as they took advantage of a Faulkner defense that was focused on stopping the former's dangerous ground game, and Riley Cooper had an outstanding outing in his first career start at quarterback. The visitors out gained the home team and led in multiple categories of total offense, but also had more turnovers and penalties. Ultimately, all three units made plays for the Eagles when they were needed, enabling Faulkner to maintain the edge for the entirety of the contest.

Kade Young was 7-of-21 for 93 yards, one score and two picks, which set up two touchdowns for Kentucky Christian, while rushing for 32 net yards. It was his second-lowest yardage total in his time at Faulkner, behind the loss to Reinhardt at Cramton Bowl last spring. That proved to be irrelevant, however, as the team made the most of the carries and his completions. In the spirit of Senior Day, Brock Snyder got the second start of his career, leading the offense's opening drive before giving way to Young. Gibson led the running game with 73 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries, and Murry had 64 yards with a score on seven touches. Jalen Browder had three catches for 42 yards, and Isaiah Scott had as many yards on just two receptions.

Cooper outplayed both of the Eagles' signal-callers, going 25-of-44 for 319 yards and two touchdowns, but with two interceptions, both courtesy of Malik Meadows, the 13th and 14th of his career in Faulkner blue in his final home game. Leading Knights rusher Jordan Brown was held to 66 yards on 12 carries, his third-lowest total of the season. Diego Soto led the way for his team's receivers with five catches for 63 yards, and Kody Washington was next with four for 54.

"Hitman" Alex Dawson, one of several playing in their final game at "The Bill," led the D with nine tackles, two for loss, a sack and a blocked kick. Phillip Russell and Antonio Gurley each tallied seven tackles, and Gurley had one and a half for loss with a sack. Ovurton Gates, Chris Thompson and Shae Taylor had four takedowns each; Thompson got a pass breakup and Taylor had 1.5 for-loss tackles. Marvin Payton and Eddie Brown split a sack. Meadows and Johnny Blackmon both registered pass breakups.
Even the punting units had strong days in this one, as Connor Ignacio of Kentucky Christian had four for 182 yards; he averaged 45.5, with a long of 60 yards. Caden Davis responded by booting it six times for 188 yards, with an average distance of 31.3 and a long of 44.

Meadows started this one off with a bang, as he perfectly read the route on Cooper's first pass on the second play of the game and followed the wide-open path to the endzone for the 20-yard pick-six. The score was the fifth of the season for Faulkner's defense, and fourth via interception. Just like that, the Eagles were up 7-0, and their potent offense had yet to even see the field. It would sooner than expected, however, as Noah Moss's ensuing kickoff appeared to be poorly executed, but the ball checked up at the Knight 28-yard line before Kentucky Christian could get a hand on it and Murry recovered. The offense was unable to find the end zone with Snyder at the helm, thanks to a drop on 3rd-and-goal, and Alvin Renteria finished off the short-field with a 24-yard field goal. After the defense forced a three-and-out with a Dawson sack on third-down, Faulkner was forced to punt as well at the end of an eight-play drive. However, another mistake on special teams cost the visitors greatly, as Caden Davis's short punt could not be handled by Sean Ray; Judson Hogeland recovered at the visitors' 40 to give the ball right back to his offense. The offense promptly provided its biggest play through the air on the next snap, which might as well have been the knockout punch, as Young found Browder with an absolute bomb in the back of the end zone to put Faulkner up 17-0 with 7:23 left in the opening quarter.

On the second play of the Knights' next drive, Cooper got his team into the redzone with a 41-yard pass play to an uncovered Luciano Borrelli. Cooper found Soto for a would-be touchdown on the next play, but the visitors were called for an ineligible receiver downfield. Eventually forcing the opponents to a field goal, the defense got a huge stop as Dawson blocked Paul Rodriguez's 30-yard field goal attempt. The visitors' opening drive of the second quarter began after a punt return to Faulkner's 42, but resulted in a four-and-out with Emmanuel Allen's sack on third-down and a dropped pass to turn it over on downs. Four plays after that, however, Obadiahous Wilson picked off a poorly thrown ball by Young. The Knights' offense put together a seven-play, 65-yard drive to get on the board via a 10-yard scoring toss from Cooper to Dylan Feese.

Faulkner had an answer, as what followed was an eight-play, 53-yard scoring drive to restore the 17-point cushion. Scott's two receptions occurred on the drive, both resulting in first downs. He made multiple defenders miss on the runs following both of them, and the second saw the shifty wideout reverse his field and just miss breaking the plane of the end zone for a 27-yard gain. Gibson took it up the middle to finish what Scott started. After forcing another punt, Faulkner took advantage of a 20-yard punt, the lowest by far of Ignacio's day, with a three-play scoring drive that covered 50 yards. Murry took the handoff, broke containment and went untouched down the sideline for a 40-yard touchdown, the first score of his career. The final drive of the half ended with the second pick of the game for Meadows on an under-thrown deep ball, and Faulkner went into the locker room up 31-7.

After a halftime ceremony that saw the presentation of the Homecoming Court and the honoring of Faulkner's 2001 national champion basketball squad, the second half got underway. The Knights' first drive lasted 12 plays and 67 yards, but once again, Faulkner allowed no points on the scoreboard from it. With a first down at Faulkner's 23, the sack from Brown and Payton pushed the visitors back, before Brown's rush on 4th-and-one at the 14-yard line going in was stuffed by Payton and Samaj Washington. Two plays after this came Gerald Palmer's interception of Young, though. Four plays later, Cooper hit a wide-open Ray for a 35-yard score; the PAT was no good, leaving the score at 31-13.

The teams traded punts into the fourth quarter, when the visitors' sideline and stands began to make some noise thanks to Kentucky Christian's first drive of the final 15 minutes. Cooper completed his final four passes of the eight-play, 84-yard drive, and Brown got redemption by capping it off with a nine-yard rushing score that made it 38-20. The visitors went for the onside kick, which Hogeland recovered. Momentum kept ebbing away from the home team as Faulkner faced a 3rd-and-20. A Gibson rush covered 17 of the yards, before the Eagles tried an unconventional fourth-down play. Thompson, the defensive back, took the direct snap and would have been stopped for a loss of five, if not for the defense lining up offside. In the aftermath of the officials' ruling, Faulkner was given 15 extra yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. Gibson promptly took the next handoff untouched up the middle of the dejected defense for the clinching 22-yard score.

The visitors were not dead yet, advancing inside Faulkner's ten. On fourth down, though, four yards away from the end zone, Jarrett Hampton was stopped two yards short by Russell and Terry Brown. Gibson and Murry promptly iced the game with hard-nosed running to move the chains, and Young took two kneel-downs to finish it off. It is the seventh consecutive meeting between the rivals that has ended with Faulkner retaining the Cup; the Eagles' first program win in 2008 came against the Knights in the first installment of the series.  

It was the penultimate college game for Young, Snyder, Blackmon Jr., Gibson, Browder, Scott, Dawson, Gurley, Gates, Meadows and Taylor, all names long associated with the program. Other seniors recognized before the game were former defensive back and current running back Vashon Jackson Jr., receiver Brandon Rudolph, tight ends Hunter Mosley and Travis Pate, offensive linemen Tyler Pritchett, Jake Johnson and Quan Stokes, defensive lineman Devin Sampson, linebacker Caleb Storie and Moss, who has handled primary kickoff duties.

"For me, you know, being here with a lot these guys…, they're seniors now, and being able to kind of see them through," Coach Gray said about the significance of this Senior Day. "This is a first experience for me in my coaching career, you know, because I've been here, there, and I've never been able to be with a group for multiple years. So, for me, it's one of those bittersweet feelings, it's emotional for me. Because seeing those guys, you know, I'm happy that we were able to get a win for these guys on Homecoming, Senior Day, and send them out the right way. And of course, we got one more, but we'll enjoy this one for right now, and then get ready to work come Monday."

Faulkner (7-2, 4-1 MSC) now heads to Laurinburg, N.C., to take on St. Andrews in the regular-season finale. If the Eagles win, they will tie the 2013 and 2014 teams for best regular-season record in program history.