Fumbles, missed tackles, sacks and penalties — all the usual miscues of a new middle school football program playing its first game — led to a 28-0 loss Thursday for the Faith Warriors against East Columbus Magnet Academy.

Faith had two weeks to prepare for Thursday’s season opener, which came against one of Muscogee County’s toughest teams — the Knights have gone 46-9 over the last seven seasons, including three consecutive district titles from 2006-2008.

The Warriors dug themselves a hole early as running back T.J. Jones fumbled twice during Faith’s first three drives, one of which was recovered in the Faith end zone for an East Columbus touchdown.

Faith coach Lee Obie said the fumbles were a result of not being prepared for the harder hitting, which the Warriors were not accustomed to.

“(We) weren’t ready,” Obie said. “I didn’t get them ready enough for this. They got hit and they were surprised by it.”

Still, things did not become as bad as they could have given the 19-0 score midway through the second quarter. The defensive side for Faith was a little more positive, though it was at a disadvantage most of the game as East Columbus started four of its drives on the Faith side of the 50-yard line.

The Warriors defense came up with a fumble recovery at its 1-yard line in the last seconds of the first half to stop a drive by the Knights, which could have given them a 28-0 lead at halftime.

As it was, Faith trailed 21-0 and put together a 14-play drive early in the third quarter, which resulted in a missed field goal attempt by Nic O’Steen from 42 yards. The drive saw the first pass attempts by quarterback Austin Screeton, who connected three times on the drive for 29 yards and picked up 28 more yards on a scramble.

“They came out with a lot more spunk than the first half,” Obie said. “I think opening up the passing game gave them a lot more confidence. We’re going to build off of that. This will be the last time we will not score in a game.”

Despite holding East Columbus to just seven points in the second half, Obie said missed tackles were a persistent problem throughout the game.

“A lot of guys were hitting in the backfield, but it was like, ‘I’m just going to hit them,’ instead of wrapping them up and taking them down,” he said.

Faith will take on Rothschild Middle School Thursday at Doughboy Stadium, with kickoff set for 5:15 p.m. Obie said he would make adjustments in practice this week to make his players more physical and less hesitant to tackle.

“Now that the team has felt what it’s like to play another team, the only thing we can do is go up from here,” he said.