MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Faulkner worked around four turnovers to blast St. Andrews 40-13 Saturday in the penultimate game of the 2020 football season. Despite turning the ball over three times in the first half and once early in the second, Faulkner scored 26 unanswered points to complete the rout.
The Eagle defense intercepted a pass, recovered three fumbles and sacked St. Andrews passers six times to frustrate the Knight offense for most of the contest. St. Andrews hit on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Fowler to Jermaine Trotman Jr. to put the Knights up 7-0.
Faulkner answered right back with a 61-yard drive that ended with a scoring strike from
Kade Young to
Jalen Browder. The Eagles took the lead for good with 31 seconds to play in the first quarter when
Caleb Storie forced a St. Andrews fumble that was scooped up and returned for a touchdown by Deshuan Love to put the lead at 14-7.
The Knights responded with a 73-yard scoring drive that saw Fowler find Kashard Cohens for a 55-yard chunk play that helped set up another touchdown pass to Trotman to cut the deficit to 14-13.
The Eagles later added field goals of 38 and 36 yards to move the advantage to 20-13. Renteria added a third kick late in the second quarter before an offside penalty by St. Andrews enticed Faulkner to accept the infraction, take the points off the board and play for the touchdown. One snap later, St. Andrews picked off a pass in the end zone to nullify the threat.
Young hit
Hunter Gibson in the flat on the second play of the third quarter and Faulkner's big back rumbled 45 yards to the SAU 6. Young followed with a dive into the end zone to move the lead to 27-13. Gibson scored on a 45-yard touchdown run with 8:47 to play in the third, putting Faulkner up 34-13. Charles Blackmon finished off the scoring with 1:45 to play when he punched it in from a yard out.
The Eagles amassed 490 yards of total offense highlighted by Gibson's 111 rushing yards on eight carries. Blackmon added 86 yards on nine touches. Young threw for 230 yards and rushed for 67. Browder hauled in seven passes for 86 yards.
Jamichael Morgan paced the defense with nine tackles including half a sack.
Mario Davis Jr. had four total tackles with two sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup.
Malik Meadows had three pass breakups and an interception.
Antonio Gurley also had a fumble recovery.
Faulkner (5-2, 4-1 MSC Appalachian Division) wraps its season Saturday, April 10 against Bluefield at 5 p.m.
