A Barton running back rushed for 403 yards and four touchdowns. UNC Pembroke scored 68 points. All five of North Carolina’s South Atlantic Conference teams earned victories, including Lenoir-Rhyne, which collected the league championship trophy in convincing fashion.
These are your Week 11 top headlines among North Carolina’s Division II teams in action on Saturday. Here’s a recap of each D2 contest, along with our main takeaways from the day and a list of top players.
NOTE: We gave Lenoir-Rhyne, which cruised past Tusculum 48-7 in the SAC title game, and Fayetteville State, which lost to Virginia Union in the CIAA finale, their own stories.
—> Click HERE to read more about Lenoir-Rhyne-Tusculum.
—> Click HERE to read more about Fayetteville State-Virginia Union
Game Recaps:
SAC Championship: Lenoir-Rhyne 48, Tusculum 7: Sean White threw five touchdown passes, and the Bears completed their quest to reclaim the conference championship. Songa Yates caught three TD passes, while Tate O’Brien hauled in two scoring receptions in the rout.
CIAA Championship: Virginia Union 21, Fayetteville State 10: The Broncos saw an eight-game winning streak against CIAA competition come to an end in the league title game in Salem, Va. Barry Elliott had a 92-yard kickoff return for FSU’s only touchdown.
Wingate 27, UVA Wise 0: Quarterback Brooks Bentley rushed for two touchdowns and threw for another score to Matt Flanders, helping the Bulldogs finish the regular season 8-3. Caleb Bonesteel booted two field goals, including a 45-yarder at the end of the first half.
Barton 48, Erskine 14: Junior running back Jordan Terrell posted the best rushing performance of the season by a back from North Carolina, earning 403 yards on 44 attempts. Terrell scored touchdowns on runs of 65, 36, 19 and 5 yards to help the Bulldogs (5-5) snap a four-game losing streak.
Catawba 24, Carson-Newman 14: Preston Brown threw a 48-yard touchdown pass to LJ Turner and rushed for a score, helping the Indians close the season 5-6. Marquece Williams also had a short-yardage TD run, while Bryson Sims tacked on a 25-yard field goal to keep Carson-Newman at bay.
Mars Hill 21, Newberry 14: The Lions (8-2) jumped to a 21-0 lead, then held on as Newberry scored two late touchdowns and advanced inside the 10-yard-line in the final seconds. Newberry threw an incomplete pass on the final play of the game, helping preserve Mars Hill’s slim playoff chances.
West Florida 52, Chowan 6: The Hawks, which lost its head coach and a number of players after last season’s CIAA championship game appearance, struggled to an 0-10 record. Rashad McKee connected with Tyree Holloway on a 75-yard touchdown pass for the Hawks’ only points Saturday.
UNC Pembroke 68, Concord 21: Quarterback Colin Johnson threw for 309 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for 157 yards and two more scores. Not to be outdone, running back Sincere Baines galloped for 178 yards and five TDs in the Mountain East finale for both teams.
Week 11 Takeaways
* Running back Jordan Terrell has certainly left his mark on Barton’s program over the past four seasons. Terrell’s final game of his redshirt junior season may have been his best in a Bulldog uniform, at least from a statistical perspective — 44 carries, 403 yards, four touchdowns.
Terrell concludes the season with 1,732 yards on 268 attempts — among the leaders in all of Division II. He averaged 6.5 yards per attempt and 157.5 yards per game. His career numbers after four seasons (including the four-game COVID year in 2020): 969 carries, 5,487 yards, 44 touchdowns. His longest run (from 2021) covered 82 yards.
* Returning to the D2 playoffs is a long shot for Wingate, which advanced to the quarterfinals a year ago. The Bulldogs dug themselves an early-season hole with narrow losses to Mars Hill (15-10) and Tusculum (23-21). The other loss came to Limestone (17-10) in mid-October, and those three defeats are likely too much to overcome in the playoff selection committee’s eyes.
The Bulldogs can feel good that they closed the season strong, winning the last four games and seven of the last eight. Wingate pinned the only regular season loss on Lenoir-Rhyne (34-30) in what may have been the most exciting South Atlantic Conference game of the season.
* Wingate, which gave up just 160 total yards on Saturday, earned two shutouts this season, beating Erskine 45-0 on Sept. 30. Albany State only managed seven points on the Bulldog defense in the opener. Emory & Henry only scored 10. For the season, the Bulldogs surrendered just 14.2 points per game.
* Like Wingate, UNC Pembroke (7-3) likely has too many losses to be considered for the D2 playoffs. The Braves have been on a tear, though, since losing to Frostburg State 31-21 on Oct. 7. Since that defeat, UNCP has beaten Fairmont State 49-7, West Virginia Wesleyan 56-0, Glenville State 49-0 and now Concord 68-21. That’s an impressive tally.
* Catawba made big strides under first-year coach Tyler Haines. The Indians won just once a year ago. This season, they started 2-0 and earned five wins in all, including three against SAC competition. Catawba looks poised to join the upper echelon of the conference next season.
* Mars Hill came into the weekend listed 10th in the regional rankings. Seven teams from each region get selected for the D2 playoffs, so last week’s double-overtime loss to Tusculum might keep the Lions out. But you never know until the field is announced, which in this case will be Sunday evening.
* Landon Honeycutt, Mars Hill senior linebacker and team leader, earned double digits in tackles for the fifth game in a row and the sixth time this season. Honeycutt now has 106 tackles for the season, along with 5.5 sacks and a forced fumble.
Top Players
Jordan Terrell (Barton): Took the first handoff of the game seven yards and never looked back, recording what could be the most impressive stat line of the season by any offensive player: 403 rushing yards, four touchdowns, 9.2 yards per carry. His longest run of the day resulted in a 65-yard TD.
Sincere Baines (UNC Pembroke): Scored touchdowns on runs of 6, 43, 1, 21 and 8 yards in leading the Braves’ to their highest scoring output of the season. Baines averaged 8.5 yards per carry.
Colin Johnson (UNC Pembroke): The Braves’ dual-threat quarterback stung Concord through the air and on the ground. He did have two interceptions but more than made up for it with a 309-yard passing day and by averaging 10.5 yards per rush (15 carries, 157 yards).
Landon Honeycutt (Mars Hill): One of the top linebackers in the SAC led the Lions with 11 tackles and 1.5 sacks (for minus-11 yards).
Marquise Fleming (Wingate): The redshirt junior earned three sacks and a season-high six tackles for loss. He finished with 11 total tackles and also forced a fumble.
Brooks Bentley (Wingate): Finished 19-of-30 in passing for 191 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions. Bentley also rushed for 43 yards and two touchdowns, including one on a 35-yard keeper.
Caleb Bonesteel (Wingate): Kicked two field goals, including a 45-yarder, and made three PATs for nine total points.
LJ Turner (Catawba): Rushed for 117 yards on 24 carries. Had a 48-yard TD run to push the Indians to a 14-0 lead in the second quarter.
Jaquan Lynch (Barton): The Bulldog quarterback was efficient, completing five of his eight throws, with two touchdowns. He rushed four times for 10 yards and scored once.
Jon Gullette (Mars Hill): Burned Newberry’s defense on a 56-yard run and finished with 108 yards on 22 carries. Gullette completes a solid regular season a few clicks shy of 900 rushing yards.
Damipi Lamboni (Mars Hill): Recorded three sacks and seven total tackles in the Lions’ season finale. He also had a quarterback hurry.
JR Martin (Mars Hill): Threw a pair of touchdown passes to Ja’Hari Mitchell and Beau DeBerry and rushed for 50 yards.
Final Word
Lenoir-Rhyne’s romp in the SAC title game should give the Bears a home game in the first round of the D2 playoffs. We’ll find out for sure on Sunday evening when the 28-team field is announced.
Will Fayetteville State and Mars Hill make it? It doesn’t look favorable coming out of the weekend, but it all depends on how the committe views each school’s body of work.
It’s a shame Wingate and UNC Pembroke likely won’t get consideration. These are two teams playing their best right now, one with a ferocious defense (and a win over Lenoir-Rhyne) and the other with a high-octane offense. If neither team makes the playoffs, can we create a special D2 bowl game or exhibition to match up these two talented teams? We’d love to see them play each other before each turns in the equipment for the season.
