Warhawks soar over Musketeers in regular season opener

PERRY, Ga. — The Veterans Warhawks football team opened their season Friday night with a convincing 48-6 defeat of the Academy of Richmond County (ARC) Musketeers.

Head coach Josh Ingram brought in a team who has been grinding and getting ready for the season. He would like to work on the running game to help open up the passing game for their senior quarterback Jake Maxwell.

Maxwell started the scoring for the game on the initial drive with a 63-yard touchdown pass to Preston Bird. Bird caught a screen pass and took it up the left sideline outrunning all of the Musketeers pursuing him.

ARC’s quarterback threw an interception to Kayleb Jackson who returned it 31 yards for a touchdown as the first quarter came to a close with the Warhawks leading 14-0.

In the second quarter another Maxwell to Bird connection resulted in a 12-yard touchdown catch. The Warhawks’ defense continued to stymie the Musketeers and after a punt the Warhawks had the ball on their own 24-yard-line.

They marched quickly down the field and Nictavious Furlow scored on a five-yard run. The score at halftime was Veterans 28 – ARC 0.

The Warhawks kicked off to start the third quarter and held the Musketeers in their own end of the field.

ARC lined up to punt but the punt was blocked by Antonio “Tone” Scott and recovered in the end zone by Jackson for a 35-0 lead.

The Warhawks got the ball back again in good field position and drove down to the five yard line, where the Maxwell-Bird combination resulted in another touchdown on a shovel pass that Bird ran around the left edge and into the end zone.

The Warhawks led 42-0 at the end of the third.

Ingram was able to get some of his younger players into the game during the 4th quarter, and the Musketeers were able to score a touchdown but the point after attempt was blocked by the Warhawks.

That was the final score of the game, and the Warhawks won 42-6.

Ingram was happy with the win but the team still has a few areas that they can improve upon. He was happy to see the special teams contribute to the win with blocked punts and field goals, something that there hasn’t been a lot of in the coach’s five years at Veterans.

The Warhawks will play Griffin this Friday, Aug. 25 on Freedom Field at 7:30 p.m.

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