DAHLONEGA, Ga. — Despite returning 16 starters from last year's surprise group, there were still plenty of questions surrounding Lumpkin County coming into Friday's season-opener against a quality Union County squad that had already dispatched one rival by nearly 40 points.
Was junior Cal Faulkner ready to take the reins of what is expected to be a thoroughbred offense? Was the defense bigger, stronger, faster than the last time they took the field in a humbling playoff loss to Oconee County?
The answers to those questions and several others were sufficiently answered in the Indians' 44-27 win over the Panthers at The Burial Grounds.
Faulkner threw for 143 yards and ran for another 92. The defense forced seven 3-and-outs a week after the Panthers put 50 on Fannin County. And the anxiety of waiting an extra week to open the season seemed to be put to rest almost right from the opening kick.
"We had a two-week layoff, whatever you want to call it, but I thought we played hard. We competed against a very good football team. Really proud of our guys," Lumpkin County coach Heath Webb said.
The Indians' offense wasted little time showing they were ready to get their 2023 season underway. Mason Sullens rumbled 50 yards on the opening play, and following a 14-yard run by Faulkner four plays later, they had 1st-and-goal at the Panthers 1 in under two minutes. However, a bad exchange by Faulkner and Sullens on the next play caused a fumble that Union County recovered. They fumbled again on their fourth possession.
In between the two turnovers and a series of punts by both teams, Lumpkin County needed just two plays to take the early lead. Sullens sprinted 38 yards to the Panthers 7, and Gerald Walker finished off the 2-play, 15-second drive with a 7-yard TD run.
"We left some points out there," Webb said. "Two fumbles inside the red zone, you know, a little disappointed in that. Maybe that's game one stuff. We want to get those things cleaned up for sure."
But Union County displayed its quick-strike ability when Caiden Tanner connected with Jensen Goble on a 79-yard pass play that set up a 1-yard scoring run by Braylen Rader. But the extra points were no good as Lumpkin held on for a 7-6 lead.
Webb said he got almost exactly what he expected from both teams.
"We knew they would score a bunch of points. Our game plan was to try to run the football and run the clock a little bit and take some shots when we needed to because we knew we were gonna need a bunch of points," Webb said. "We've got a very good defense; it's just that (Union's) got a very good offense, and they're going to score their points. We knew we had to get some; we had to get a bunch."
The defenses did take control until Sullens scored on a 5-yard run to push Lumpkin's lead to 14-6 early in the second quarter. The Panthers then fumbled an exchange of their own, and the Indians needed just two plays to cash that in, with Faulkner finding Luke Evans on a 25-yard TD pass to extend the lead to 21-6 with 4:29 left in the half.
Union County answered back with its best drive of the game, going 53 yards in 11 plays, capped by a 3-yard scoring run from Tanner to cut the lead to 21-13 with just 1:22 left.
After pounding the Union defense for 214 yards on 23 carries to that point, the Indians offense also showed off its 2-minute capability.
Faulkner completed four passes to three different receivers, moving them to the Panthers 15 in just over a minute. Josue Nieto finished off the efficient drive with a 24-yard field goal for a 24-13 halftime lead.
The Indians, taking advantage of the Panthers playing to defend the pass, did not attempt a pass in the first half, as they churned out 214 yards on the ground by halftime.
"We thought we had a soft box there early in the first half, and we had numbers, so we just ran the football," Webb said. "Union made a great adjustment to account for that, and so that kind of opened the passing game up for a little bit in the second half."
In the third quarter, after trading punts, the Panthers cut into the lead with a 50-yard TD pass from Tanner to Ethan McBride to trail 24-20. But Lumpkin County answered right back, as Faulkner and Evans connected again for a 30-yard pass to set up Sullens's second touchdown run for a 30-20 lead.
The Indians pushed the lead to 37-20 midway through the fourth when Sullens scored his third touchdown of the game. The Panthers again cut the lead as Braylen Rader hauled in a 10-yard TD pass from Tanner on the following possession.
But Sullens stuck again, breaking through on a third-and-short to ramble 55 yards for a score with just over a minute left to seal it.
Lumpkin piled up 520 yards of offense, 377 on the ground, paced by Sullens' 262 on 32 carries. Evans had four catches for 76 yards and a touchdown.
Union County had 371 total yards, 286 through the air, as Tanner was 18-of-35 with a pair of TD passes. A week after rushing for nearly 300 yards against Fannin County, the Panthers were held to just 85 yards rushing on 26 attempts. Jensen Goble finished with nine catches for 153 yards.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2023/8/1201117/football-faulkner-indians-look-sharp-in-2023-debut