Fultondale squeaks by Falkville in Thursday game

By Staff
Justin Schuver, Hartselle Enquirer
The field wasn't the only sloppy thing in Falkville's most recent football game.
The Blue Devils had three costly turnovers in the second half of a 29-24 loss to Fultondale Sept. 13 at Burl Vest Stadium. A light rain started to fall from the second quarter until the end of the game, making field conditions miserable for the two teams.
Falkville (2-1, 1-1 in Class 2A Region 5) seemed to have the most trouble with the wet conditions, fumbling the ball twice inside its own 20. On the first fumble, the Blue Devils' defense held Fultondale (3-0, 2-0) off the scoreboard, but Falkville would not be as lucky the second time.
Falkville held an 18-15 lead when Fultondale took the ball over on the Falkville 20-yard line following the turnover. It looked as if the Devils' defense would hold once more as Fultondale was forced into a fourth-and-goal situation from the Falkville 1. But Chris Barber went airborne around the left side, scoring with 10:28 left in the fourth quarter to give the Wildcats a lead they would hold for the rest of the contest.
"In close games like tonight, turnovers are always going to be key," Falkville coach Neil Estes said. "The bottom line is we turned it over three times in the second half and you just can't do that."
Falkville had trouble getting into an offensive rhythm in the second half after continually starting its drives in poor field position. Three times, Fultondale punter Raymond Hender managed to land punts inside the Falkville 20. The Blue Devils' only score of the second half came on the last play of the game when Jonathan McNatt hit Brandon Clark for a 22-yard touchdown.
A bright spot for the Blue Devils was the passing game, especially the play of senior wide receiver Steven Lindsey, who finished with six catches for 214 yards and two touchdowns.
McNatt was 9-of-25 for 279 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
"We were going to try to run the ball but then I noticed that they kept single covering me and they kept backing off of me," Lindsey said. "So I told coach and we just started throwing it and seeing what happens."
Another bright spot was the defense, which played well at times despite allowing 29 points – seven of those points came on a short drive when Fultondale took over on the Falkville 1 following a missed Blue Devils fourth-down conversion late in the game.
In fact, it was the defense that first got Falkville on the board when Dustin Jump stripped Barber of the ball and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown with 5:52 left in the second quarter. The extra point failed and Falkville trailed 7-6.
The game remained close through most of the second quarter before a flurry of big plays increased the scoring output in a hurry. Lindsey intercepted a pass from LeKendrick Smith on the Fultondale 42 and on the next play McNatt found Lindsey open for a touchdown with 2:12 left in the first half. Falkville's attempted two-point conversion failed.
Fultondale moved back in front one play later when Smith found C.J. Mixon behind the Blue Devils' secondary for a 73-yard touchdown.
The Wildcats converted on their own two-point attempt, with Smith finding Jordan Fowler to give Fultondale a 15-12 lead with 1:45 remaining.
Momentum swung back Falkville's way on the next drive, when McNatt hooked up with Lindsey for an 81-yard touchdown pass on a third-and-10 call with 33 seconds left. Again the extra point failed, but Falkville held an 18-15 lead heading into halftime.
LeKendrick Smith's 17-yard touchdown run with 2:35 left in the first quarter put Fultondale in front 7-0 early. Johnathan Craig scored the other Fultondale touchdown on a 1-yard run with 1:17 left in the game to put the Wildcats up 29-18.
Falkville travels to face Cold Springs Friday night at 7 p.m.