Faith turns turnovers into 47-0 win at FDA
Published 12:00 am Saturday, September 9, 2006
Last week the Fort Dale offense struggled some early before racing to a 27-14 win over Hooper Academy.
This week the offense never got out of the gate.
No. 7 Fort Dale (2-1) turned the ball over seven times as No. 3 Faith Academy (2-1) blasted the Eagles 47-0 in Greenville on Friday night.
“If I'm Clarke Prep (FDA's next opponent), I'm licking my chops getting ready to play us,” said Eagles' head coach James “Speed” Sampley.
KeAndre Niles rushed for 132 yards on just eight carries and two touchdowns for the Rams. But Niles' runs - including a 70-yard score - came when the game was well in hand. The Rams capitalized on three Fort Dale turnovers in the first half and led 21-0 at halftime.
A fumble by quarterback Ty Newton led to a 1-yard touchdown by Faith. The Eagles recovered a loose ball on Faith's next offensive series, but Newton was intercepted by Rams' linebacker Cory Pappas who returned the ball 68 yards for the touchdown. Then, Fort Dale running back Mika Jones was hit hard trying to convert a fourth down and the Rams recovered inside Eagles' territory. A 15-yard touchdown pass by T.J. Walker to John David Phillips gave Faith the 21-0 advantage.
“I think our defense most of the time played good,” said Sampley. “That's hard to believe when you get beat 47-0, but we gave them the ball how many times inside our own 20? Sometimes things don't go your way and you have to pick yourself up and keep playing. I don't think we did that tonight.”
The numbers back Sampley up. Faith finished the game with 261 yards of total offense, an average overall outing, but not indicative of the final score.
The Eagles, however, finished with only 171 total yards. Fort Dale's initial first down didn't come until 5:16 left in the second quarter when Newton hit Davis Watts for 13 yards to the Faith 49-yard line. The drive would be Fort Dale's best of the game, but an Adam Vickery 27-yard touchdown catch was erased by a clipping penalty.
Any hopes of a Fort Dale comeback were quickly erased early in the third quarter.
A bad snap on a punt gave Faith the ball at Fort Dale's 35-yard line. Walker lofted a pass to Drake Zimmerman who ran the rest of the way for the Faith touchdown.
Steven Maloney then picked up another Eagles' fumble and went 28 yards, giving the Rams a 34-0 lead.
Niles added his two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
“We're a lot better football team then the way we played,” said Sampley. “I think they (Faith) have a good football team but I don't think they're nearly as good as the way we made them look. Most kids are resilient. We'll challenge them next week and I hope they respond.”
The Eagles travel to play No. 9 Clarke Prep next Friday night. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.