Wingate knocks Lenoir-Rhyne from ranks of unbeaten

Evan McCray hauled in a 75-yard touchdown pass from Brooks Bentley with 50 seconds to go, and Wingate handed Lenoir-Rhyne its first loss of the season Saturday, 34-30.

The Bulldogs (6-3, 5-2 in the South Atlantic) may have inserted their name back into the Division II playoff conversation, knocking off the No. 7 team in the national rankings. Lenoir-Rhyne dropped to 8-1, 6-1. The Bears had been riding a 10-game win streak dating back to 2022.

The battle of South Atlantic Conference heavyweights featured six lead changes, including four in the final quarter.

Lenoir-Rhyne scored with 1:01 remaining to slip ahead 30-27. Songa Yates hauled in a four-yard TD pass from Jalen Ferguson, and it looked like the Bears’ unblemished record might survive another road scare. Lenoir-Rhyne also rallied late to beat Limestone a few weeks ago.

But Wingate answered on the very next play after the kickoff. McCray jumped between two defenders, hauled in the Bentley pass and raced untouched for the score.

“My quarterback just trusted me to be open. We talked about it the play before. He told me to go look for it,” McCray said in an interview posted on Wingate’s Twitter/X page. “The O-line gave us some time to throw it and I just executed it … We knew it was going to be a statement game. Everyone was locked in the whole week.”

The Bears weren’t done, though. Quarterback Jalen Ferguson completed 10-yard passes to DeAree Rogers and Malakei Sumner, then rushed for eight yards into Wingate territory. Two more completions to Zyheir Dillard and Z. Turner-Knox put Lenoir-Rhyne at the Bulldogs 20 with four seconds left.

Dequan Mosley saved it for Wingate, intercepting Ferguson’s final throw at the goal line. The celebration was on for a Bulldog team that seems to be coming alive at just the right time of the season.

Lenoir-Rhyne still has the edge in the SAC Piedmont standings to make the league title game. The Bears own the tiebreaker over Limestone, who also is 6-1 in league play. Wingate would need both Lenoir-Rhyne (home against Catawba) and Limestone (at Barton) to lose next week to create a three-way tie at the top of the Piedmont. Each of the teams would be 1-1 against the others under that scenario.

Lenoir-Rhyne was ranked in the initial D2 regional rankings, released this past week, along with Mars Hill from the SAC Mountain Division. Wingate was not listed, but the Bulldogs know about playoff success after advancing to the D2 quarterfinals a year ago.

Bentley finished with 335 yards passing and three touchdowns in Saturday’s triumph. His counterpart in Lenoir-Rhyne colors, Ferguson, also recorded three passing TDs and 262 yards through the air.

Dwayne McGee rushed for 170 yards and a score for the Bears.

Lenoir-Rhyne got a big day defensively from Devin Hibbitt, who had 11 tackles and a couple of tackles-for-loss. Tre Morrison and Jaheim Mullen had 10 tackles each for Wingate.

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South Atlantic Conference Standings: Piedmont Division

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