Lumpkin County seized control on the opening drive and never looked back in a 56-3 win over Gilmer. The #7-ranked Indians scored 35 points in the first half, as Cal Faulkner had 3 TD passes and the state’s leading rusher Mason Sullens had a pair of TD runs in the first half alone.

On the opening drive for Lumpkin, the Indians nickeled and dimed their way down the field until Faulkner found Walker Scott for a 24-yard touchdown and the 7-0 lead. Gilmer took the ensuing kick all the way down inside the 8-yard line, but the Indians’ defense held the Bobcats to a Noah Turner 29-yard field goal. 

From there, Lumpkin just flat-out outplayed Gilmer. The Indians would score 49 unanswered points that included taking a 35-3 lead into the locker room. It was 7-3 going into the second quarter, but Sullens had a pair of TD runs to pad the lead – one from 24 yards out and the other from 25. Faulkner then had TD passes to Nolan Matthews (34-yd), and Harper Davenport (11-yd), and even had one called back thrown to Luke Evans. The Indians defense stymied, Gilmer, also turning the Bobcats away in the red zone on downs in the first half.

In the second half, Lumpkin added to the lead with a Faulkner 1-yd TD run, a Sullens 17-yd TD, and a Jackson Bell rushing score in the final period for good measure. Lumpkin improves to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in 7-AAA, and played better than their 39.2 points per game and 13.2 allowed (both top-10 in the state). Gilmer drops to 4-3 overall and 1-1 in region play, and were held to 3 points, far lower than their 30.8 per game average.