MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Faulkner found a fitting end to a total team effort Saturday as
Ben Anderson took the ball out from under center and all 11 men on offense pushed him in from a yard out for the 16-13 overtime victory against Southeastern. The walk-off push play capped a day that saw Anderson draw the surprise start, his first of the season.
The Jacksonville, Fla. native got the Eagles on the board with 8:27 to go in the first quarter when he dropped a dime on a third down throw that resulted in
T.J. Hall sprinting through traffic and into the end zone to complete the 61-yard touchdown play. The game remained 7-0 until the fourth quarter when Joel McGrath hit a 42-yard field goal to get the Fire on the board.
Caden Davis answered with a 34-yard kick of his own with 7:47 left to leave Faulkner up 10-3.
Southeastern got the ball back with 7:38 to go in the game and worked it inside the Eagle 10. Two straight tackles for loss by
Jerrell Williamson ahead of a false start penalty pushed the Fire back to the Faulkner nine with 3:45 left. A fourth down pass interference penalty against the Eagles gave Southeastern new life before the defense stood strong on consecutive run plays to bring up another pivotal sequence. Following a timeout, Nate Hayden found Tray Jackson, who wrestled the ball away from a defender and got a foot down in the end zone to secure the touchdown with 2:44 left.
Faulkner got a spark from
Jason Gaddis on the ensuing kickoff return from, who set the Eagles up at their own 40 to start the drive. The Eagles worked the ball to the Southeastern 23 and brought in the field goal unit to try and walk off with the win. The Fire blocked the kick to force overtime.
Emmanuel Olatitan sacked Hayden on the first play of overtime before
Marvin Payton batted down a pass on third down. McGrath entered to knock through a 39-yard field goal and put Southeastern up 13-10.
With his team trailing for the first time all day, Anderson found the magic on a third down scramble that netted him 13 yards. He scrambled again two plays later and appeared to get into the end zone before being marked down at the 1. The Eagles then called a push play that head coach
Rob Gray drew up before the team's morning walkthrough.
"I figured we needed something different on a third and one," Gray said. "I never dreamed it would win us the game. I'm glad Ben got that moment."
The Eagles allowed 222 yards and gained 208 of their own. The defense shined in big moments throughout the day, forcing three fumbles and recovering two while also intercepting a pass. They also sacked Southeastern quarterbacks five times in the game for a loss of 31 yards. That coupled with the self-inflicted wounds that saw the Fire penalized 13 times for 133 yards proved enough for Faulkner, which also converted 11 of 20 third down plays on offense.
Hall topped the offensive stats with 102 yards receiving on five catches including 89 yards receiving on third down plays.
Defensively, Olaitan caused havoc in the Southeastern backfield. He had nine total tackles in the game including 3.5 sacks and a forced fumble. Davis also did his part in the field position game for the Eagles, punting eight times for 43.4 yards with two punts in excess of 50 yards.
Faulkner (1-2) opens Mid-South Conference play next week when it travels to Lindsey Wilson.
