By Kyle Blue, Warner University Sports Information Director

LAKELAND, Fla. – Warner faced a livewire team in No. 7 Reinhardt. Though they fell 17-49, Royals offense and defense showed many positives especially against the nationally contending Eagles.

The first quarter proved to be a massive disappointment for Royals football fans. The Eagles took a 28-0 lead capitalizing on several turnovers and taking away any hopes for a Royals upset. (0-28) Warner head coach Rod Shafer said, "No one in our conference has ever beaten Reinhardt, no one has beat Lindsey Wilson, and only one team has beaten Georgetown. We have one of the toughest schedules out there."

The Royals got on the board right before the end of the first half as the freshman kicker, Justin Dalton, continued his perfection knocking a 32-yard field goal through the uprights. The Royals trailed 3-35 at halftime. (3-35)

The Eagles wasted no time after the half adding another 7 points on the board off a 1-yard touchdown run by M'calun Lanier. (3-42)

The Royals found the end zone shortly after with Javon Wilson finding a gap up the middle and running for 7-yards for a TD capping off a Warner 8 plays for 72-yard drive. (10-42) "Javon ran hard, he's a former 3-time Power-Lifting State Champion. The best part is, he's just going to keep getting better and he's only a sophomore." Stated Royals head coach, Rod Shafer.

Nick Harris extended the lead for the Eagles when he broke loose for a 40-yard run and a TD ending a 8 play 77-yard drive. (10-49)

The Royals freshman quarterback Michael Young drove Warner 14 plays for 89-yards late in the fourth quarter capping off their drive with a 43-yard connection to Kevin Laws.
Rod Shafer said, "We had trouble running our offense but our defense actually played them pretty well. We gave the Eagles 21 points off of turnovers and that's a game changer when you realize the score could have been 28-17. I'm proud of Michael Young who came in towards the end of the game at QB and showed a lot of confidence as a freshman. I'm also proud of all of our guys, they've now faced two Top-10 teams and have never once given up. They play until the final whistle no matter the score and I respect that."

Defensively, Kama Jackson led the way with 11 total tackles. Drew Clark had 7 tackles with 1 sack for a 5 yard loss and also 1.5 tackles for a loss delivering 18 yards of losses to the Eagles along with a forced fumble.

A guy that you cannot go without mentioning is Royals punter Nicholas Whidden. Whidden had 8 punts for 328 yards with a booming 62-yard punt towards the end of the first half. Whidden averaged 41 yards for the 8 punts.

The Royals end their 2-game home stand and will hit the road next Saturday to face Pikeville University (Ky.)