MURRAY – Rome wasn’t built, or even rebuilt, in a day.
Fort Campbell football won’t be, either. And that’s okay.
Friday night at Ty Holland Stadium, the Falcons — absent from the gridiron for all of 2020 and the first three games of 2021 due to COVID-19 — fell to Murray 64-6, in what was a calamitous opening frame for Coach Charles Poole and the offense.
The Tigers, now under the swift instruction of former Union City (TN) and Olive Branch (MS) skipper Darren Bowling, rolled up 43 points in the game’s first 12 minutes — courtesy of two lost fumbles and three bad snaps, two of which led to safeties.
On the game’s very first play, a missed transfer in the backfield turned into a 45-yard fumble recovery and touchdown from Tigers defensive lineman Caleb Gill.
So for a program looking to regain some footing and start things positively against a Murray team that mashes? This wasn’t ideal.
“We’re young,” Poole said. “We’re mainly a junior varsity team lining up against varsity, but it’s good experience for the kids. It’s exciting., especially in the Fort Campbell community, and if we’re able to retain at least half of these kids that we have on the squad right now…we will be able to fix some of the mistakes from this season and build upon it. And the good thing I like about this is seeing the kids get out here and play.”
Murray’s Xavier Biggers turned out to be a pretty significant matchup nightmare for the Falcons, as he’d finish with two touchdown catches and two touchdown rushes — finishing with more than 100 all-purpose yards on the night. Senior quarterback Rowdy Sokolowski found him over the middle for an untouched 39-yard touchdown pass to go up 21-0 with 7:54 left in the first quarter, and he’d hit him again down the right sideline — this time for 36 yards — to go up 36-0 with 4:37 left in the first frame to punch the running clock.
Biggers scored both of his rushing touchdowns in the second half, with 9:19 left in the third quarter, and with 2:01 left in the fourth.
Fort Campbell found some rhythm late in the second quarter, when a gorgeous Ed Reed-like interception of Fort Cambpell’s Darin Frederick by Murray’s Collin Wilson was negated by a roughing-the-passer penalty. Four plays later, Frederick would connect on a pass for a fourth-down conversion, and junior running back Darrion Hudson would cap the drive with a 25-yard touchdown up the gut.
Hudson would finish with 61 yards rushing on 16 carries, and he came into the game with 58 yards rushing and two scores on 29 carries.
“Darrion is a great kid — a multi-sport athlete,” Poole noted. “Track, and does football. Just his motivation, hunger and eagerness to keep wanting to play, and keep getting better. He’s a junior, so we’ll at least hopefully have him back if they don’t move.”
The Tigers, running their triple option and veer, rushed for 184 yards — with Gage Sokolowski (75 yards, two scores) as its biggest benefactor.
MURRAY 64, FORT CAMPBELL 6
Falcons (0-4) 0 6 0 0 – 6
Tigers (4-1) 43 0 14 7 – 64
SCORING
MUR: Caleb Gill 45-yard fumble recovery (PAT blocked), 11:48 1Q, 6-0
MUR: Gage Sokolowski 1 rush (Ben Davis PAT), 10:03 1Q, 13-0
MUR: Safety, 8:11 1Q, 15-0
MUR: Xavier Biggers 39 pass from Rowdy Sokolowski (Ben Davis PAT), 7:54 1Q, 22-0
MUR: Kainoa Olive 9 rush (PAT missed), 5:56 1Q, 28-0
MUR: Safety, 5:01 1Q, 30-0
MUR: Xavier Biggers 36 pass from Rowdy Sokolowski (Ben Davis PAT), 4:37 1Q, 37-0
MUR: Jayden Curtis 11 rush (2 pt. Rush fails), 0:10 1Q, 43-0
FC: Darrion Hudson 25 rush, (2 pt. Rush fails), 0:07 2Q, 43-6
MUR: Xavier Biggers 19 rush (Ben Davis PAT), 9:19 3Q, 50-6
MUR: Gage Sokolowski 9 rush (Ben Davis PAT), 0:12 3Q, 57-6
MUR: Xavier Biggers 9 rush (Ben Davis PAT), 2:01 4Q, 64-6
PASSING LEADERS
FC: Darin Frederick 3-9-27-0-1. MUR: Rowdy Sokolowski 2-2-75-2-0.
RUSHING LEADERS
FC: Darrion Hudson 16-61-1, Darin Frederick 8-(-61). MUR: Gage Sokolowski 8-75-2, Xavier Biggers 3-29-2, Kainoa Olive 2-28-1, Rowdy Sokolowski 1-22, Collin Wilson 4-19, Jayden Curtis 1-11-1.
RECEIVING LEADERS
FC: Amari Waddy 2-18. MUR: Xavier Biggers 2-75-2.
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
FC: Justin Copeland 3 tackles. MUR: Jayden Curtis 2.0 tackles-for-loss. Gage Sokolowski 1 INT.
