Lumpkin Indians fall short to East Jackson Eagles in season opener

The Lumpkin County Indians played hard in their regular season opener, but were unable to pull past East Jackson and ultimately lost 25-22.

The Indians started out strong with a first down on their very first possession after Drew Allison carried seventeen yards. During the Eagles first possession, Indians tight end Aaron Hopkins sacked quarterback Greg Huggs twice for a total loss of 19 yards. The Eagles were forced to punt from their own 18 yard line, but the punt was blocked by the Indians J.T. Thomas and recovered by Hopkins in the endzone for the Indians first touchdown. Lumpkin County quarterback Tucker Kirk carried the ball in for a two point conversion, and the Indians were ahead 8-0.

The Eagles fumbled during their next possession, which the Indians Tanner Barber recovered for first and goal on the Eagles 8 yard line. Running back BoJack Dowdy carried the ball in for the Indians next touchdown. The kick by Will Ramirez was good, and Lumpkin County was ahead 15-0.

The Eagles got their first touchdown of the night after a completed pass from Huggs to Caleb Adair. Immediately after during the kick return, the Indians responded with an incredible 89 yard touchdown run by Tate Reinhardt to make the score 22-6. The Eagles next touchdown came from Ty Brown with a 44 yard run to shorten the gap 22-12 going into the half.

The Eagles scored again in the third quarter with a 26 yard pass completion for a touchdown by Huggs to Shawn Cunningham to make the score 22-18. The Indians struggled to put points on the board for the rest of the game, but were unable to do so. The rest of their plays were mainly short distance carries by Allison.

East Jackson scored with a 2 yard touchdown carry in the end of the third quarter. Neither team scored for the rest of the game, and the final score was 25-22 East Jackson Eagles.

The Lumpkin County Indians will travel to White County next Friday to face the Warriors.