The Fuqua School football team wasted a little time in setting the tone in its season-opener against Brunswick Academy, won by the Falcons 41-7.

But not much.

It took just two plays for the Falcons' overall speed advantage to pay off in a score – a Larry Haskins 41-yard touchdown run – only 34 seconds into the contest.

The only reason the Falcons didn't score sooner was that a 65-yard touchdown run by junior quarterback Charles Williams on the first play of the game was called back due to an illegal block downfield.

“I thought it was going to end up being a game that came down to the fourth quarter,” said FS head coach Skeeter Fore, referencing a 20-12 victory by Fuqua over the Vikings last year in Lawrenceville. “They had a lot of people back from last year, but our speed proved to be a big advantage for us.”

Brunswick Academy had no answer for Williams or Haskins. Williams amassed 322 yards of total offense, picking up 224 yards on just seven rushes (32 yards per carry) and two touchdowns, and completing six passes on seven attempts for 85 yards and one touchdown). He also had a 13-yard touchdown catch from reserve quarterback Carter Cunningham in the third quarter.

Haskins, meanwhile, rushed nine times for 135 yards (15 yards per carry) and two touchdowns. He also had one eight-yard catch for a touchdown.

Fuqua led 20-0 midway through the second quarter, but was backed up to its three-yard-line when senior Michael Marquez recovered a fumble on third-and-goal, giving the Falcons possession on their own three-yard-line.

On the next play, Williams sprinted toward the right sideline, found the corner and raced 97 yards for the touchdown.

“That was a huge swing in our favor,” said Fore. “You go from possibly being up only 20-7 to up 26-0 in the matter of a few seconds. That really changed the nature of the game. There's no way of knowing what would've happened if they would've scored, but those plays really did put things solidly in our favor.”

Fuqua led 26-0 at the half, and after BA scored its only touchdown of the night at the beginning of the second half, Fuqua scored twice more to cap an impressive victory.

“It was a good win for us, and it came in an unexpected way. Our linemen played okay, and hopefully what they can take from the game is that we have some guys who can do a lot with the ball, if they can open up a hole. That's the job of the offensive line. Open holes, and if you do it enough, you hopefully win.”

In addition to Williams and Haskins, Marquez rushed eight times for 34 yards and had one catch for nine yards. Andrew Ware had one catch for 30 yards, and Cunningham had one catch for 11 yards and was 1-1 passing for 13 yards.

Fuqua (1-0, 1-0 VCC) will remain at home on Friday to host another Virginia Commonwealth Conference rival Kenston Forest on Friday night at 7 p.m.

Kenston Forest lost to defending State Champion Blessed Sacrament-Huguenot last Friday 56-0. Fore cautions against reading too much into scores.

“You can't overlook anybody. Kenston Forest will be ready for us, and will be looking to forget last Friday. We've got a lot ot improve on, and he had better be doing that every day, and in every practice, but nothing is easy. If it was, I guess everyone would've already done it.”