By Jack Veltri
Correspondent
LUGOFF – Before Friday, Nation Ford freshman quarterback Brooks Treble had never taken a snap at the varsity level.
Scratch that. He had never played in a game at any level of high school football before Friday.
Treble, who began the year playing with the Falcons’ JV team, hadn’t played in a game yet because the team hadn’t played in a game yet. Nation Ford didn’t play in its first JV game, and then when it played South Pointe the following week, the game got cancelled within the first three minutes.
With senior Asher Beck, the team’s previous starting quarterback, moved to wide receiver and junior backup quarterback Ben Falkner injuring his shoulder on the final play against South Pointe last Friday, Treble suddenly had an opportunity to make a name for himself in his first career start against Lugoff-Elgin.
“I told him Monday as we were walking to practice, ‘Hey, bud, it’s yours. Let’s go,'” said Nation Ford head coach Jake Bentley. “And from that point on, just took ownership of it.”
While Treble showed some flashes, it was another tough night for the Falcons in a 56-21 loss to the Demons on Friday, Sept. 4. Nation Ford is now off to a 0-3 start for the first time since 2022.
Bentley was mostly pleased with the way Treble played, finishing the night 21-of-36 passing (58 percent) with three touchdowns. A former quarterback himself, Bentley thought Treble made some gutsy throws and showed a lot of promise, leading to him finding an answer at quarterback moving forward.
“I thought he threw with confidence. I mean, for this to be a first varsity game, to be able to drive some of those seam balls in there for you to field comebacks, man, that’s not easy to do,” Bentley said. “So, I’m proud of him, but at the end of the day, our job is winning the game.”
However, it wasn’t a perfect night for Treble. He also threw a pair of interceptions and fumbled on a low snap, resulting in a pair of defensive touchdowns for Lugoff-Elgin.
Those mistakes weren’t the biggest problem for the Falcons, though. For the second straight week, the defense had trouble slowing down the run game, as the Demons ran the football well throughout the night.
Senior running back Tiyon Fanning led the way for Lugoff-Elgin as he finished with three touchdowns.
“We’ve got a tackle better, too. I think we’ll watch the tape and understand, ‘Hey, a lot of those runs, we got a guy there. Yeah, we’re ducking our head, you know, missing the tackle and the hole, and we’ll get it cleaned up,” Bentley said. “We’ve got a lot of seniors that take a lot of pride in what we’re doing. We’re gonna get it cleaned up.”
Nation Ford will wrap up its three-game road trip when they travel to Ridge View next Friday, Sept. 11.
Bentley’s sense of urgency was already high after last Friday’s 56-0 loss to South Pointe, but now in an even deeper hole, he knows the Falcons can’t sulk and let the tough start to the season get to them.
“I told the team when our feelings are real low, our standard is going to maintain high. And that’s where we’ve got to battle each one of us to, hey, we’re going to try to meet the standard, even though our feelings are in the jar,” he said. “We don’t love where we’re at. We’ve got to find a way to continue to meet the standard. So, I think when we win, it’s 24 hours. When we lose, it’s 24 hours. Let’s learn and grow. But man, we’ve got to find a way to run the football, and we need more guys taking more ownership of what they’re doing.”
