MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Faulkner defense forced Pikeville into three turnovers and a turnover on downs at the Faulkner one on the visitors' first four drives of the game, the last takeaway resulting in a 75-yard interception return for a score by
Jerrell Williamson. Unfortunately, the Eagles (4-7, 3-4 MSC) only led one other time in the contest and fell to the Bears (6-4, 5-3 MSC) 36-22 at Billy D. Hilyer Stadium on a cold and windy Saturday in each team's final game this season.
The Eagles forced four turnovers but could only score off two of them, and they could not overcome throwing four interceptions.
Ben Anderson was 10-of-14 for 49 yards, one touchdown and three picks, before
Raequan Beal took over and went 15-of-21 for 187 yards and an interception.
De'Marcus Johnson, in his final college game, led the receivers with seven receptions for 102 yards. Williamson and
Mekhi Jones tied for the team lead with six tackles; along with the pick-six, Williamson had a pass breakup and a recovery of Jones's forced fumble.
Kordell King and
Chris Thompson, the latter also in his final collegiate contest, each registered five stops.
Jailen Clemons had another field day in the secondary with three tackles, three pass breakups and an interception.
Lee Kirkland led the Bears offense through the air with a 22-of-40 day for 283 yards, two touchdowns and two picks. Alex Sanders carried the ball 16 times for 113 yards and a score. Derrick Griffith had six catches for 89 yards and a touchdown, and Sanders tallied eight more for 84 yards. Brett Coleman and Obie Wilson each led the defense with seven tackles, with Wilson adding an interception.
The Eagles were held to three-and-outs on their first two drives, which were started by a fumble recovery from another senior,
JaMichael Morgan, and Clemons's pick. After
Skylar Henderson came up with the stop of Sanders at the goal line to end a 10-play, 58-yard drive, Pikeville received the ball back off the punt at Faulkner's 39. The Bears went for it on fourth down, but Williamson jumped the route on Kirkland's pass and didn't stop until he entered the endzone.
The defense forced a punt, but on the third play of the ensuing drive, Travion Pope picked off Anderson's underthrown ball and returned it 20 yards to the Faulkner 15. It took one play for the Bears to capitalize, as Kirkland hit Griffith in the back corner of the endzone to tie the game. After another Faulkner three-and-out, Pikeville took advantage of another short field off the punt return and an unsportsmanlike conduct foul. Jayden Neace capped off the 11-play, 37-yard drive with a two-yard scoring run. Six plays later, with 11 seconds left before halftime, the Bears were back in the endzone on Timothy Butler's 36-yard pick-six.
In the third quarter, the Eagles forced a three-and-out after Butler's second interception of the afternoon. Beal entered the game and led an eight-play, 68-yard drive that included a 27-yard completion to
Satyler Wilson and a 43-yarder to Johnson that set the Eagles up two yards from paydirt. They were unable to hit it, however, settling for a
Caden Davis field goal.
On the following drive, after surrendering a 32-yard pass play on which Rashad Brown made a superhuman effort in pushing the pile for the final 23 yards, Clemons came up big. The Bears decided to go deep on 4th-and-one, and Clemons broke it up on what would have been a first down and possibly a score. Beal completed passes of 17 yards to Johnson and 29 yards to
Shaun Vincent before briefly leaving with an injury, at which time Anderson came back in and threw an eight-yard score to
Jaiveyon Tucker. The two-point attempt failed, leaving Faulkner down 21-16.
Pikeville was moving the ball at will again on the next drive before Austan Shuffler fumbled at the Faulkner four-yard line at the end of an 18-yard catch on a fourth down play and Williamson recovered at the one. Backed up against a wall, the Eagles responded with an 18-play, 99-yard drive that ended in
Corinthian Cunningham's one-yard plunge, the Allen University transfer's first touchdown in a Faulkner jersey. With the score 22-21 because of the failed two-point try with 7:24 remaining, Faulkner had its first lead since the game's first score.
The Bears had an answer, however, traveling 75 yards in nine plays and scoring when Kirkland delivered an 18-yard strike under pressure to Shuffler. The Eagles turned it over on downs, and Pikeville put the final nail in the coffin when Sanders took the handoff, broke containment behind the line of scrimmage and took it down the sideline for a 59-yard touchdown run. On Faulkner's final offensive play, the receiver fell and Wilson made the wide-open interception of Beal's throw.
The Eagles finish the season in sixth place in the new-look nine-team Mid-South Conference.
