NORCROSS, Ga. — Lumpkin County's unbeaten start came to an end Thursday night as they turned the ball over four times in a 28-14 loss to Wesleyan.
The Indians (5-1, 1-1 7-3A) struggled to get anything going offensively while seeing the defense have a couple of lapses allowing Wesleyan to jump out quickly.
"We played about as bad as we could tonight," said Lumpkin County head coach Heath Webb. "I'm proud though that our guys are competing like crazy and our coaches kept coaching all the way to the end."
Lumpkin saw three passes get intercepted while muffing a punt in the second half that would have given the Indians a short field down 21-7 at the time.
"We had way too many errors, mistakes, penalties in critical times," said Webb. "Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. You can't turn the ball over four times and beat that crowd."
Wesleyan got on the board first, giving Lumpkin their first deficit of the season early in the first quarter as Jamie Tremble caught his first touchdown of the night from three yards out. The Indians answered early in the second quarter on a Mason Sullens 3-yard touchdown run that tied the game up.
Both teams traded blows before Wesleyan broke through on a 3rd-and-long late in the half as Tremble got behind the defense to score on a 77-yard touchdown. After an interception, Shepard Jones got deep to quickly put the Wolves up, 21-7, at the half.
After Jones broke through again to go up three scores early in the fourth, Lumpkin County responded as Cal Faulkner high pointed a 20-yard pass to score, but the defense couldn't get off the field as the Wolves ran the clock out.
"Everything that we want is still out in front of us," said Webb. "I see a team that got behind 14 in the first half and didn't really flinch. I know they are all disappointed, but the way that they fought gives us hope for the future. We will use this as a teaching moment and an opportunity to clean it all up."
