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Faulkner's aerial assault figures to test Shorter's defense
By Jim O'Hara
MONTGOMERY – For the past three years, they have had little trouble grounding an eagle.
On Saturday, however, the Shorter University Hawks will have their hands full doing it again when they head to Montgomery, Ala., for their first Mid-South Conference West Division showdown at noon ET against a Faulkner Eagles team that ranks as the NAIA’s top passing program.
“Now is the time to be ready – this is our first West Division game and it’s a bigger game than Georgetown was,” said Shorter head coach Phil Jones, whose team is coming off its first loss of the season – a 21-14 setback to No. 7-ranked Georgetown last week. “I believe our players understand that. We’ve got to be ready to go.”
Judging from what Faulkner (1-2, 0-0 Mid-South) has done with the football, the Hawks (2-1, 0-0) will need to be on high alert against the Eagles’ potent passing attack.
Leading the aerial assault for Faulkner is sophomore quarterback Josh Hollingsworth, who transferred to Faulkner this year from Furman.
A native of Hamilton, Ala., where as a three-year prep starter he passed for 6,131 yards and 72 TDs, Hollingsworth is the nephew of former Alabama star quarterback Gary Hollingsworth and already has shown he has the bloodlines of his uncle.
Over the Eagles’ first three games, Hollingsworth has completed 97 of his 142 passes (68 percent) for 1,243 yards and 12 TDs, and has been intercepted six times. He is also the NAIA’s leader in passing yards a game (414 yards) and total yards offense per game (420). His best outing came in Faulkner’s second game of the year, a 48-41 loss to Huntingdon, when he threw for 524 yards and five TDs and eventually earned Mid-South Offensive Player of the Week honors.
In last Saturday’s 51-34 defeat at the hands of Mid-South East Division power Pikeville, Hollingsworth was 29 for 52 for 312 yards – it was his lowest yardage output – and three TDs, but was intercepted five times.
Working from an offense that spreads out over the entire field, has spread out the passing wealth to an amazing 13 different receivers that have caught at least two passes. Thus far into the season, his favorite targets have been Joe Pereria, who has 19 catches for 148 yards, and Chris Kordakis, who has hauled in 13 passes for 142 yards and three touchdowns.
The bottom line: Faulkner averages more than 38 points and 532 yards in total offense a game.
“They’re scoring a lot of points and it makes it tough when you play a team that can do that,” Jones said. “But you have to remember that when teams can throw the ball well, there is a danger of not being ready for the run. But I feel our defense has been playing well and playing physical.”
Jones quickly points out how the Hawks’ defense, which has given up just over 17 points a game, closed out last Saturday’s game by allowing just 72 total yards in the second half to a strong Georgetown offense.
Junior linebacker Demery Hawkins had 15 tackles in that game and leads the Mid-South at 11.3 stops an outing and sophomore cornerback Michael Peeples, who despite being the smallest Shorter defender standing at 5-foot-5, leads Shorter with three interceptions – he returned one of his two picks against Georgetown for a touchdown.
“The best thing coming out of that [Georgetown] game is what we did in the second half by adjusting to the changes they made,” Jones said. “I felt like we made good progress on both sides of the ball.”
On the offensive side of the ball, Shorter hopes to get its patented run game into gear and do so with a new starting quarterback.
With senior David Byrd out with an injured shoulder he suffered late in the first half against Georgetown, Shorter will be looking for junior Cory Thacker and freshman Eric Dodson to step in against Faulkner, whose defense has yielded 39 points and 532 total yards per game.
After Byrd went down last week, Thacker took over behind center and rushed for 34 yards while completing 7 of 12 passes for 59 yards and a touchdown.
The Hawks, however, are committed to getting back to their traditional grind-out-the-yards-on-the-ground style of play.
Shorter enters the game averaging 314 yards a game, with 219 yards of that on the ground. Sophomore fullback C.J. Scott leads Shorter with an 89.7 yards a game average, but it seems that when they face off against Faulkner, the Hawks enjoy a field day running the ball.
In their last trip to Montgomery two years ago, Shorter rolled up 515 yards via the rush and in last year’s 31-10 win over Faulkner the Hawks ran for 323 yards.
“They’ll be ready to play,” Jones said, “and they’ll have 12 players who were suspended from last week’s game [for an on-field incident against Union last year] back.
“We’ve got to be ready, too.”
