Eagles Start Off the 2023 Season with Huge Win Over Faulkner

Waleska, GA - Going into a season, you never really know what you have until you face actual competition. There are always questions about who will step up and perform and who will make the big plays that put points on the board.  The Eagles were able to answer several of those questions in game one as they faced Faulkner University and dominated most of the game winning 36 to 3!

The defense had a really big game only allowing the 3 points by the visiting Eagles from Montgomery, Alabama. The closest that Faulkner would come to scoring was on the second play of the ballgame when the Eagles were able to pick off an early pass by Reinhardt's starting quarterback, Stephen Craig, and run it to the one-yard line. Reinhardt's defense stood strong and pushed Faulkner back to force a field goal.

That would be all that the Reinhardt Eagles would allow and kept Faulkner to only 133 yards of total offense. Markell Sutton was the leader on defense making 6 total tackles, disrupting any passes thrown his way, and making an interception which he returned for 20 yards. Joining Sutton with 6 tackles each was the linebacker crew of Kendrick Hawkins and Cortez Brown. One of Hawkins' tackles was a sack putting an end to a Faulkner drive. Kellen Neal recorded an interception for Reinhardt as well and had 3 total tackles.

Reinhardt had several players with 3 or 4 tackles each so it was a well-rounded effort by Coach Greg Blue's defense.

With the great effort by the defense, the Eagles were able to do some things offensively to generate 398 total yards of offense.  A quarter of these yards belonged to starting running back Jerdavian Colbert who racked up 98 yards on 19 carries for a 5.2 average. His long was a 36-yard run that had Faulkner defenders grabbing and pulling, but not able to pull the powerful runner down.

Helping Colbert in the backfield was freshman running back - Quan Moss - who had 48 yards on 8 carries for a 6-yard average. Moss showed physical toughness when he was given the ball in the fourth quarter to run the clock. In his efforts, he was able to score twice and put the game away. This was the only scores for either team in the second half.

David Friedberg stepped up for Reinhardt in the receiving department catching 3 balls for 86 yards gained.  He put the ball in the end zone in the third quarter on a good post route and a throw by backup quarterback, Taylor Jackson. Jackson and Craig split time for Reinhardt throughout the game and both had almost identical numbers.

Craig had 95 total on 7-15 passing with one interception and he scored a touchdown running on a 10-yard run in the second quarter. Jackson had 99 yards 7 of 10 passing and threw for one touchdown (Friedberg).

The highlight of the night was a special teams play from punt returner Gage Stephens. Stephens pulled down the high-lofting punt in the second quarter on his 26-yard line. After twisting and turning through the back of Faulkner Eagles, Stephens turned on the afterburners to find his way into the endzone after running 76 yards.

It was a beautiful run by Stephens just before halftime which set the tone for the remainder of the game. Stephens had 2 punt returns for 112 total yards - which was a 56 yards per carry average.

Reinhardt will have a tough opponent in next week's home game when Southeastern will visit Waleska. The game is scheduled for Saturday, September 9th with a noon kickoff. Southeastern is receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25.