On the first play from scrimmage last Saturday, Randolph-Macon quarterback
Austin Faulkner looked downfield for receiver Earl Peoples, finding him for a 46-yard completion.

He looked for Peoples a lot in a 21-13 victory over Washington and Lee, as the junior receiver grabbed all 20 of Faulkner’s completed passes in the game.

Faulkner misfired on only three of 23 balls he threw toward Peoples that afternoon, finishing with 20 completions in 29 attempts for 295 yards. Peoples also scored two touchdowns, including a six-yard score to end that game-opening drive and a 56-yard catch just before halftime.

He grabbed 13 passes in the first half for 218 yards. Then, on his first reception of the second half, Peoples topped his 230-yard total for the entire 2008 season on a 16-yard play.

Only 17 players have caught more than 20 passes in a game in NCAA football competition, led by Jerry Rice’s 24 catches for Mississippi Valley in 1983 (a mark that was matched in 2002 by Brown’s Chas Gessner). While seven Division III players have caught 20 passes in a game, only two have topped that mark, led by Massachusetts-Boston’s Sean Munroe, who caught 24 passes in a 1992 game.

Randolph-Macon resumes action this weekend against Frostburg State – a team against which Peoples has not yet even had a pass thrown his way.