The headline read,
"Fulton playoff streak ends." It put an
exclamation point on the end of the 2008
season.
"That (headline) was
the last thing we looked at when we came out
of the locker room," Coatney said after the
Falcons opened the 2009 season with a 16-13
non-region victory over Morristown West at
Burke-Toney Stadium.
Junior running back
Dametrius Thomas, who rushed for 130 yards
and two touchdowns on 22 carries, had seen
that headline often after the Falcons went
4-6 a year ago.
"Fulton has a long
history of going to the playoffs," Thomas
said. "That was big motivation for us."
Fulton (1-0)
capitalized on the mistake-prone Trojans
(0-1), who had four dropped passes - one for
a potential touchdown - and lost two
fumbles.
Fulton's Marco
Golliday recovered Wesley Goins' fumble at
the Trojans' 38 early in the second quarter.
"The first half we didn't
finish plays," Trojans coach Lamar Brown said. "A
couple of times we had receivers open. We've just
got to finish plays. Defense, the same thing, we've
got to finish plays. We missed tackles. It's
nobody's fault but mine."
The Trojans stopped Fulton on
downs starting the second half and took over at the
Falcons' 40.
Seven plays later, Chad Brooks
scored on a 4-yard run. It was 8-7 with 7:02 left in
the third.
Fulton answered with two big
plays by Thomas.
On first down from his 20,
Thomas gained 31 yards. Five plays later, Thomas ran
to the left, broke a tackle in the backfield, and
ran right for a 26-yard touchdown. Winters'
conversion run gave the Falcons a 16-7 lead with
3:41 to play in the third.
The Trojans' Jordan Bishop
scored on a 1-yard run with 5:24 left in the game.
Hunsucker missed the PAT attempt, and the Trojans
trailed 16-13. They never got the ball back.
Fulton faced a third-and-11
from its 19, and Winters threw a 20-yard pass to
Xavier Bridges to keep the drive alive. Fulton drove
to the Trojans' 11 and time ran out.
2009
Schedule
Class (4A)
|
Date |
|
|
August 21(S) |
Morristown West (A) |
|
August 28 |
Powell (A) |
|
September 4 |
Austin-East (A) |
|
September 11 |
Alcoa (H) |
|
September 18 |
Pigeon Forge (A) |
|
September 25 |
West (A) |
|
Otober 2 |
Gibbs (A) |
| October 9 | Gatlinburg Pittman (H) |
| October 16 | Carter (H) |
| October 23 | Open |
|
October 30 |
Union County (H) |
