MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Faulkner rallied down the stretch but failed to overcome early miscues on its way to a 34-27 loss to Reinhardt Thursday. Reinhardt wasted little time getting on the board, covering 69 yards in three plays on the opening drive. Faulkner earned a 15-yard penalty to set up a 42-yard Devyn Collins touchdown sprint in which the running back was stuffed at the point of attack and blasted through would-be tackles on the way to the 6-0 lead.

After Faulkner went three and out on its first possession, Reinhardt methodically drove the ball 83 yards on 10 plays and advanced the lead on a 20-yard strike from Hunter Arters to Adarrius Harshaw to move the lead to 13-0.

"We came out very sluggish. We gave up some cheap points very quickly and it took us a while to get adjusted to what they were doing on offense," Faulkner Head Coach Rob Gray said. "We tackled terribly the first half. It's not all on that, but we just did some uncharacteristic things that we're not used to doing."

Faulkner showed signs of life for the first time when Ben Anderson engineered a drive that covered 51 yards in seven plays to set a goal-to-go scenario. Consecutive bad snaps cost the Eagles 23 yards, forcing Anderson to hit Jaiveyon Tucker on third down just to get his team back into field goal range. Caden Davis connected on a 35-yard attempt with five seconds left in the opening quarter to cut the deficit to 13-3.

Undaunted, Reinhardt answered with a 43-yard drive that culminated with a 1-yard scoring run by Collins to move the lead to 20-3.

Faulkner began its effort to get back into the game when it had apparently recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown. Officials ruled after the play that the pass had been forward and was incomplete. Seconds later, Jacoby Lightfoot picked off an Arters pass and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown. Anderson then hit Tucker for a two-point conversion pass to narrow the gap to 20-11.

After the teams traded punts, Reinhardt handed off to Tyress McKey, who sprinted for 42 yards before stepping out of bounds at the three. Collins finished the sequence with a touchdown run to push the lead to 27-11.

Faulkner answered with a 62-yard drive that lasted 11 plays and ended with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Anderson to Tucker, cutting the score to 27-17.

Reinhardt's bid to answer ended with 34 seconds left in the half when Elliott Shorter intercepted a pass in the end zone to leave the homestanding Eagles down 10 at the half.

Reinhardt put distance between itself and the No. 24 Eagles when Arters faked a handoff and went over the top to Navarie Solomon for a 71-yard touchdown pass with 10:42 remaining in the third quarter, moving the lead to 34-17.

Faulkner got back in it with 2:59 to go in the third as John Bolton sprinted around the left side for a 2-yard touchdown run. Caden Davis added a fourth quarter field goal from 38 yards out with 12:07 left to cut the deficit to 34-27.

"We didn't give up. We fought for four quarters," Gray said. "I'm proud of the dudes. I'm proud of how they fought."

Faulkner's defense forced a stop with 3:14 to play, handing the ball back to the offense at its own eight.

The hosting Eagles managed just seven yards in a minute before turning the ball over on downs with 1:25 left.

Faulkner led the game 19-17 in first downs, 71-56 in plays run and possessed the ball for 11 minutes more than Reinhardt. Additionally, Faulkner won the turnover battle 2-0. However, Reinhardt had 379 yards of total offense as compared to 267 for Faulkner. Reinhardt also averaged 6.8 yards per play while Faulkner managed only 3.8.

The result marks the seventh consecutive loss for Faulkner in the series against Reinhardt. Faulkner (0-1) returns to action Saturday, Sept. 3 when it travels to Point University.