On Dec. 16, from the stands inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Buster Faulkner watched history unfold standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the rest of the North Oconee High School community.
Faulkner, Georgia Tech’s offensive coordinator, has been involved in the game of football, both as a player and coach, nearly his entire life. Nothing, however, prepared him for what he was witnessing that day.
“I’ve been in a lot of big games, coached in a lot of big games,” he told The Atlanta Journal Constitution on Tuesday. “Been a part of state championships and national championships as a player, coached at several different levels. I was nervous and probably as nervous as I’ve ever been watching a football game.
“But, it’s crazy to say, I had no doubt that he could take them down the field and score. I just felt like if they tied it up, all he needed was about a minute and a half.”
In a 7-7 game between Marist and North Oconee, Faulkner’s son, Harrison Faulkner, led North Oconee onto the field in the fourth quarter of the Class 4A state championship. The Titans went 76 yards in 12 plays while draining more than 5-1/2 minutes off the clock.
With the ball then resting at the Marist 2, Faulkner’s own number was called, and the junior quarterback dove into the end zone with 3:58 on the clock in what would turn out to be the game-winning score.
“I was worried the whole week,” Buster Faulkner said. “Marist is an unbelievable football team. I knew if he had a chance, just had the ball late in the game — as a little kid he’s always come through.”
Said Harrison: “Just a quarterback sneak. We haven’t run it all year. Just bring the tight ends up and pick up a few yards, and if I can get in, I get in.”
Harrison Faulkner completed 16 of 22 passes for 203 yards and one touchdown to go with the game-winning score, a touchdown which gave North Oconee its first state title in school history.
Nearly 30 years ago, Buster Faulkner was in the midst of state championship celebration of his own inside the Big Orange Jungle, the home of the Parkview football team in Lilburn. As a sophomore he had led Parkview to its first state title in school history by defeating Tift County 21-7.
In those days, the GHSA held its semifinals of the state playoffs at the Georgia Dome before returning to campus sites for the title games. Parkview had to come from behind a week earlier to defeat Colquitt County to earn a shot at the state championship.
Faulkner remembers a goal-line stand before halftime in the Tift County game, then a touchdown pass not quite as heroic as his son’s score, but no less impactful.
“I threw a touchdown to Dan Burnett (North Oconee’s current defensive coordinator) on a big post ball,” Faulkner recalled. “That week in practice, I’ll never forget coming off that fake and not throwing the post and throwing a drag across the field. Offensive coordinator Robert Hill stopped practice and said, ‘Listen. This is what’s gonna happen. You’re gonna come off this fake, you’re gonna turn around and throw it as far as you can and Dan Burnett’s gonna catch the touchdown and the place is gonna go crazy.’ And that’s exactly how it happened.”
Buster Faulkner and Harrison Faulkner are thought to be the first father-son duo in GHSA history to lead schools to state championships. Harrison Faulkner is a 6-foot, 180-pound junior who has a handful of scholarship offers to play at the FBS level.
His game-winning drive in the state championship wasn’t even his first of the season. In October, North Oconee beat Eastside thanks to an 80-yard drive in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter that ended with Faulkner’s 3-yard touchdown pass resulting in a 40-35 victory.
“It all starts with Harrison,” North Oconee coach Tyler Aurandt said. “He’s such a competitor and his ability to extend plays and make throws. He’s one of the best that I’ll ever coach.”
With Harrison having already brought home one trophy this month, the Faulkner family turns it attention to Friday’s Birmingham Bowl, where Buster will be looking to help the Yellow Jackets (7-5) beat Vanderbilt (6-6). Buster said the Faulkner family will be in attendance at Protective Stadium to cheer him on, but it was his ability to be present for Harrison’s crowning moment that meant more this month.
And that’s a big reason he has remained a part of the Tech staff the past two seasons, to be able to be with Harrison at Mercedes-Benz Stadium during the postgame celebration to tell his son how much he loved him and how proud he was to call him a champion.
“It’s definitely neat. Not many people can say they’ve been a part of that. I’m just happy for him. This is his moment, this is his time,” Faulkner said. “(When) I took this job, I was very fortunate I didn’t have to move my family. That’s something I told my son a while back, when he got into high school, regardless of the opportunities for me, we were gonna get him through school,” Buster said. “A lot of that is because of the community, because of the football program, because of the coaches. A lot of similarities and a lot of parallels to what I was able to experience in ‘97.”
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