No. 4 Faulkner blasts Georgetown 44-0 for first-ever shutout
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A pair of firsts occurred here Saturday afternoon at Billy D. Hilyer Stadium, and each painted a dominating picture of Faulkner blue.
The fourth-ranked Eagles recorded their first-ever shutout with a 44-0 pounding of Georgetown in front of a boisterous home-opener crowd of 3,200, and in the process did something that hadn’t happened in the 19-year career of the Tigers’ legendary head coach Bill Cronin. The winner of 12 Mid-South Conference championships and two NAIA national titles, Cronin had never had one of his Georgetown teams fail to score a point.
Until Saturday.
The Faulkner defense, much-maligned in its first two victories, answered the bell and then some against the Tigers, allowing just 160 yards of total offense as the Eagles improved to 3-0. Georgetown, which suffered one of the most lopsided losses in the Cronin-Era, fell to 0-4 for the first time since 1994. The last time the Tigers had been shutout was against Cumberlands (Ky.) in 1996, the year before Cronin took the helm.
“We had a feeling all week our defense was starting to get it, and we thought we’d play well on that side of the ball today,” Faulkner head coach Charlie Boren said. “I’m not sure we ever imagined we’d play this well, though. Our defensive coaches put in a great plan, and our guys did a wonderful job executing it. Coach Cronin is a great coach, and it means a lot to get our first shutout against such a traditional NAIA power like Georgetown.
A pair of strong safeties led the charge for Faulkner. Keylan Smith had seven tackles, which included two behind the line of scrimmage, and broke up five Georgetown pass attempts. Dennis Thames added four tackles and seven pass break-ups. Tiger quarterbacks Ozzie Mann, Clay McKee and Tanner Evans completed just 13-of-43 pass attempts for 139 yards, and the rushing attack was equally ineffective, collecting just 21 yards on 26 carries against the Eagles’ defense.
“I’m really proud of our guys for how they responded after a tough couple of weeks ,” said Faulkner defensive coordinatorCam Clark, who challenged his players after surrendering 33 and 35 points in wins over Southeastern and Bluefield to open the season. “We played hard and we played well. We played with confidence and kept our assignments. It was a really good day for us.
Faulkner quarterback Clayton Nicholas led the Faulkner offense, completing 16-of-22 passes for 263 yards and four touchdowns. Backup quarterback Lane Moss also got in on the action, tossing the first touchdown pass of his career in a 8-for-12, 71-yard effort. The five combined touchdown passes went to five different receivers – Josh Gross, Rob Lockhart,A.J. Stevenson, Shante Rogers and Eric Reeves. Trent Miles, who rushed for 67 yards, added the sixth Faulkner score.Joe Jones added 73 yards on the ground. Placekicker Hunter Kennamer, who missed his first extra point of the season early in the game, stayed perfect in field-goal attempts with a 20-yarder that opened the scoring. The senior is 6-for-6 on the season.
“It was a fun game to play in, and everybody did their job today,” said Nicholas, who now has 12 touchdown passes and just two interceptions in his first three games as the Eagles’ starter. “When you have playmakers around me like I have, and an offensive line that works so hard to protect me, good things can happen. I think we keep getting better each week, but we still have a long way to go.”
 Leading 3-0 midway through the first quarter, Faulkner’s Akil Teal sacked Georgetown quarterback Ozzie Mann and forced a fumble that was recovered by Banton Price at the Tiger 37. Nicholas completed four passes on the subsequent scoring march, the final one going to Gross from eight yards out for the touchdown. Kennamer missed the point, but the Eagles’ advantage was 9-0 with 5:41 left in the period.
The second quarter was dominated by Faulkner, which reeled off touchdown drives of 70, 59 and 63 yards to put the Tigers away before the game made it to the halftime break. All three scores came on Nicholas passes – a 30-yarder to Lockhart, a 33-yarder to Stevenson and a 62-yarder to Rogers. The lead was 30-0 at the half, with Moss taking the wheel for most of the final two quarters of play. He engineered an 8-play, 64-yard drive that culminated in Miles’ 3-yard jaunt late in the third quarter, and his 21-yard toss to Reeves early in the fourth quarter closed out the scoring.
Gross had four catches for 30 yards for Faulkner, which also got four catches from Jonathan McNair for 25 yards. Rogers, Stevenson and Lockhart had three receptions apiece.  Nicholas and Moss connected with 10 different receivers on the day.
“This was the first game in a tough four-game stretch for us, and we’ll have to keep working hard to get better if we want to keep winning,” said Boren, whose Eagles face No. 19 Reinhardt (Ga.) and No. 2 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) over the next three weeks. “These next three games will go a long way in defining what our opportunities will be later in the season.”
Before the matchups with the pair of nationally-ranked opponents, Faulkner hosts Cambellsville (Ky.) next Saturday in their first MSC divisional game of the season. The game kicks off at 1:30 p.m. at Hilyer Stadium.
