Great Day to be an Eagle on Homecoming 2023

Waleska, GA - The campus was alive early Saturday morning with events and happenings preparing for the BIG Homecoming Game versus Union College Bulldogs.  Tailgating started early with food and festivities on the lawn at the Brown Athletic Center and the Women's Volleyball taking on UPike on their Senior Day inside. Reinhardt's campus had electricity flowing from the Brown all the way out to Ken White as the fans were preparing for a big day for football.

The Eagles did not disappoint coming away with a huge victory over the visiting Bulldogs, 45-10. Several Eagles had big days on the field, but it was the overall full team effort that made sure the team would pick up their sixth win of the season, and more importantly, keep their 21 NAIA ranking.  The revamped NAIA Playoffs has 24 teams qualifying for postseason with the top 24 teams in the country creating the final field of teams.  Reinhardt has just two more games remaining with Kentucky Christian and the Rams of Bluefield so the Eagles do not have any room to falter in order to keep their postseason streak going.

The start of the game was somewhat identical to the Point game from the following week.  The offense gave up the ball on the first play from scrimmage in the Point game and the Eagles defense had to step up to hold the Skyhawks to just a field goal.  They would repeat this again today when the Eagles fumbled on the kickoff and the Bulldogs would have a great field position to start the game.  Reinahardt's defense buckled down again and held Union to just a field goal early in the game.

The early turnover did not rattle the Eagles as Taylor Jackson and Jerdavian Colbert marched the team down the field to get the Eagles' first score of the afternoon. The 5-play, 55-yard drive was capped off by Jackson's surge touchdown behind the stout offensive line of Reinhardt from the 1-yard line. That touchdown was Jackson's sixth rushing touchdown of the season. Passing - Jackson was 11 of 16 for 251 yards in the game throwing for 2 touchdowns to go along with his 2 rushing touchdowns.

Clayton Holland would get his first score of the season on the next drive for the Eagles on a touchdown grab in the back of the endzone coming from Jackson's arm. The second touchdown of the day for the Eagles gave the team confidence and the early 14-3 lead.

The Bulldogs did have a good drive following Holland's touchdown cutting the lead to just 12-10 Eagles, but Reinhardt's defense locked down Union for the rest of the game

Colbert was a workhorse in the backfield rushing for 134 total yards on 16 carries and one score in the third quarter. In total, the Eagles offense had 443 yards against the Bulldogs with 192 coming on the ground. It was a very balanced attack offensively with an additional 251 yards coming in the air.

Nine different receivers caught the ball for Reinhardt in the game with 73 yards coming from Collin Fletcher's 73 catch-and-run in the second quarter. Fletcher caught the ball on the right side of the field - made a few cut moves and then headed to open space that appeared on the left side of the field.  He turned on the jets and got the ball down to around the five-yard line where a Bulldog tried to pull him down from behind.  Fletcher kept his feet moving and punched the ball into the endzone.

Just a couple of offensive series before this touchdown drive by the Fletcher. Jordan Ghant ran a kickoff back 91 yards giving the Eagles a 21-10 lead.  An Eagles field goal by kicker Alex Hardy made the score 24-10 on a drive just before Fletcher's score making the lead 31-10 going into the halftime break.

Colbert and backup quarterback, Ethan Rice, both had rushing touchdowns in the third quarter, which put the "nail in the coffin" for the Bulldogs. Neither team was able to score in the fourth quarter making the final 45-10! Rice's touchdown was a sprint through traffic from the eleven-yard line.

Defensively, the Eagles were able to show their strengths holding Union to 284 total yards of offense. Nathaniel Sanford was the high on the defensive side recording 8 total tackles and just behind Sanford was middle linebacker, Orlando Gandy, Jr..  Gandy, Jr. had 7 tackles in the game. Next, Colby Sloan was sitting at 6 total tackles with 1.5 being for a loss. Braylon Jones had an interception along with backup defensive back, Gabe Helton.

Next up for the Eagles is the matchup with Kentucky Christian on Saturday, Nov. 4th, and then the much-anticipated final game with Bluefield on Saturday, Nov. 11th.