MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Faulkner (3-3, 0-2 MSC) fell just short by a score of 37-35, but registered its highest-scoring half with 35 points since its 2022 Homecoming win over Cumberland, in an inspiring Senior Day performance at Billy D. Hilyer Stadium on Saturday in which it at one point trailed No. 19 Georgetown (4-2, 1-1 MSC) 27-0 in the third quarter.
With almost all of the production coming in the second half, Duece Marshall had his best game of the season and a career day on the ground, as he and the offense began taking what the Tiger defense was giving. He completed nine of his 19 passes for 221 yards and three touchdowns and led all rushers with 24 carries for 166 yards and a score. Robin Harris added 55 yards on 11 rushes with a score, and the two combined for all but one of the Eagles' positive yards on the ground. Davian Liddell got 129 yards and two scores on just three catches, and Darian Riggs had 62 yards and a TD on his three receptions. Seniors Elisha McNeil and Caleb Williams had 10 and seven tackles, respectively, to lead the team.
In his fourth career game against Faulkner, Gehrig Slunaker had his best game against the Eagles as the senior QB put up a stat line of 19-of-27 for 263 yards and four touchdowns. Guy Bailey led the Tigers on the ground with 70 yards and a score on 19 carries. Chandler Godby led the receivers with six receptions for 96 yards and two touchdowns. Colin Bratcher had 89 yards on five catches, and Brian Tawuo had five of his own with 62 yards and a TD. Darion Neal had seven tackles with a forced fumble and a pass breakup. Jackson Geilear and Ben Reeves combined for nine tackles and the Tigers' three TFLs.
While his defense stymied the Faulkner offense, Slunaker guided his offense down the field on two of his first three drives 71 yards in seven plays and 65 yards on eight plays, respectively, to give the Tigers a 14-0 halftime lead. Faulkner's longest gain of the first half came on a 48-yard carry by Marshall on the fake handoff to get his team off the goal line, but Neal batted down Marshall's pass to earn his PBU four plays later to force the turnover on downs.
Three plays after a 53-yard kickoff return to open the second half, Slunaker found Godby who ran untouched down the sideline from 32 yards out for a 21-0 lead. The Tiger defense forced a third three-and-out. Six plays and 62 yards after the punt, Tawuo made a back-shoulder catch for a 12-yard score to seemingly blow the game open, though Elijah Short blocked the PAT. The rout seemed to be on two plays later with Geilear taking Riggs down on the end-around for a loss of five.
On 3rd-and-15, however, the tone of the game changed as Marshall evaded the pressure and stepped up out of the pocket before flipping a long pass to Liddell near midfield off the Georgetown sideline. The junior wideout shrugged off a tackle and turned on the jets down the sideline to finish the 80-yard score, the longest catch of his Faulkner career, and put the Eagles on the board.
Two plays later, Dylan Rogers flipped the game on its head by breaking through the O-line, blindsiding Slunaker and stripping him of the ball. Clenangelo Peake picked up the bouncing ball and set up the Eagle offense at the Tiger 27. Marshall scrambled for 18 yards and then took a draw up the middle nine yards to make it 27-14.
Dayne Brown then made the gutsiest call of his Faulkner career as the Eagles pulled a surprise onside kick. Jacob Huff got it to go a perfect 12 yards as he came up with the ball himself. Four plays later, Marshall dropped back and scrambled 11 yards on 3rd-and-nine, and on the next snap from the Tiger 29, he pump-faked and dropped in a perfect ball to a leaping Riggs in the endzone.
Slunaker rallied the troops and drove his team 70 yards in seven plays and threw a 13-yard TD pass to Godby. However, after a lateral from Kentrell Borden to Liddell on the ensuing kickoff set up the Eagles at the 37, Faulkner responded in even less time with a four-play, 63-yard drive. The third quarter closed with Marshall passes of 28 and 18 yards to Riggs and Devin Townsend, and after a PI call in the endzone to open the final period, Harris pushed the pile and broke the plane to get the Eagles back within six.
Tawuo extended the ensuing drive with third- and fourth-down catches from Slunaker and backup QB Kolter Smith, and the Tigers cashed in with a crucial field goal. The offense moved with tenacity, but the Eagles were held to a field goal, and just as crucially, Isaiah Wills-Jackson blocked the low 46-yard attempt from Huff. Holding up its end of the bargain, the Faulkner defense forced a three-and-out. Pinned at his own 13, Marshall kept the offense clicking for an eight-play drive, and he stepped up and found Liddell in the very back of the endzone from 44 yards out with 14 seconds left. The Eagles could not go two-for-two on onside kick attempts, however, as the Tigers kneeled it out and finally exhaled after the hosts made them sweat.
The Eagles travel to University of the Cumberlands next Saturday for a 1:30 kick in what will likely be their final contest of the season against an unranked team.
