BLAKELY, Ga. – Faulkner football clinched a winning season for the first time in five years when it beat Andrew College 35-3 Saturday. The second meeting in three weeks between the two programs saw the Eagles notch 344 yards of total offense while limiting the Fighting Tigers to 146.
On the return trip of a rare same-season home-and-home series, Faulkner played to a 14-3 advantage over the game's first two quarters. After the Eagles failed to move the chains on the opening drive of the game, Andrew went 27 yards on seven plays and capped the possession with a 41-yard Aaron Bates field goal for the 3-0 lead.
Kamden Wellington wasted little time answering as he hit
Tomon Felton for seven yards on the first play of the ensuing possession before handing off to
Jordan Moultrie for seven more. Two plays later, he connected with Felton for a 35-yard gain. Two plays after that, Wellington found Felton again for 33 yards and a lead-changing touchdown.
The Fighting Tigers responded with an 11-play drive that got all the way to the Faulkner 23 before the Eagle defense shut it down. Andrew took its next possession to the Faulkner 27 but saw it stall again as
Hayden Smith and
Eric Watson combined for a drive-ending tackle.
Faulkner followed with its best possession of the first half as it covered 73 yards in 10 plays. Wellington opened the march with a 26-yard strike to
Devin Townsend before finding
Gage Mims for a gain of seven. The Faulkner signal-caller then broke a 22-yard sprint on fourth down to get the Eagles inside the red zone. Moultrie punctuated the possession with a three-yard touchdown run to put the Eagles up 14-3.
After its defense surrendered just one yard on three plays to start the second half, Faulkner put together another 10-play drive to add to the lead. Wellington hit Mims for six yards before Moultrie covered 21 yards on the next two carries. Wellington eventually capped the 66-yard march with a 12-yard touchdown pass to
Tyrese Keiler to push it to 21-3. The Eagles added to the lead early in the fourth quarter when Wellington engineered another touchdown drive. He hit Mims for a seven-yard strike to open the drive and later capped it with a touchdown run from a yard out to move it to 28-3.
Andrew responded with an 11-play drive that stalled on the Faulkner 35. After a pair of Moultrie runs covered 37 yards, Wellington went over the top to
Jamichael Taylor for a 28-yard touchdown pass to move the lead to 35-3.
Wellington finished his day completing 17 of 27 passes for 215 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for 21 yards and a score. Moultrie paced the ground game with 72 yards on 11 carries. Felton hauled in three passes for 75 yards to lead the receiving corps.
AJ Alozie topped all tacklers with eight total stops to go along with two tackles for loss and a sack.
Nigel Dowdell and
Chase Huff each broke up a pair of passes.
Faulkner (6-3) returns home to the friendly confines of Billy D. Hilyer Stadium to wrap its season Saturday, Nov. 7 when it hosts Cumberland University.
