The smell of cigar smoke wafted from the Wingate football sidelines, while players gave coaches the traditional water cooler bath reserved for champions.
The only problem – Saturday’s South Atlantic Conference title game wasn’t over yet. Wingate still had to get off a punt on fourth-and-29 deep inside its own territory with less than a minute to play.
Were the Bulldogs tempting fate by jumping the gun on their celebrations?
Nah. Not on this day.
In a fitting end to a dominant performance – and a dominant defensive season overall – Joseph Reddish picked off a Carson-Newman pass after the punt and returned it 24 yards to burn the rest of the clock.
Game over. The glow of cigars multiplied, more ice cooler contents flew into the air, and Wingate Bulldogs players and coaches poured onto the field to revel in a 28-13 conference championship victory — over the one team to beat them in the regular season.
Wingate’s Stout Defense Leads The Way
Defense has been Wingate’s calling card for many years now, first under coach Joe Reich (now the school’s athletic director) and now his protege, longtime defensive coordinator Rashaan Jordan, who assumed command of the program after 2023.
This year’s Bulldog stopping unit has been among the best in the nation in D2 football. The group bowed up when most needed Saturday, holding Carson-Newman to 84 total yards and keeping 1,000-yard running back Jaylen Sullins to a mere 27.
Wingate set the tone for the day on the first series, stuffing Carson-Newman in three plays to force a punt. The Bulldogs responded with a Caleb Bonesteel field goal on their first possession – more on Bonesteel in a minute – then forced another C-N three-and-out.
Carson-Newman started to move the ball late in the first quarter and into the second. But the Bulldogs stiffened and kept the Eagles out of the red zone. C-N had to settle for two Bennett Smith field goals of 41 and 45 yards.
The Wingate lead grew to 9-6 by halftime, thanks to Bonesteel’s third field goal, a career-high 48-yarder.
In the third quarter, the Bulldogs looked ready to blow the doors off the game. Wingate capped a 10-play drive to start the second half with a 1-yard Noah Bell touchdown run on fourth-down. The ‘Dogs got the ball back after another three-and-out, and Bonesteel yet again paid it off with his fourth field goal, this time from 36.
Carson-Newman stalled on three downs, and Wingate took over at its 45 with 1:19 left in the third. Then, the momentum seemed to shift. Quickly. The Bulldogs threw an interception, returned by Kendall Williams 57 yards.
The Eagles scored seven plays later on fourth down plunge up the middle, and suddenly it was 19-13. Was the Wingate shell starting to crack?
It didn’t take long for the Bulldogs to provide an answer to that question. Quarterback Brooks Bentley, responsible for the interception on the previous possession, rushed for 26 yards. Bentley then completed a 14-yard pass to Evan McCray, one of his favorite targets this season.
On first down from the C-N 38, Corey Seimer burst through the line and raced untouched to the end zone. Danger averted. Turn things back over to the defense to close things out.
Carson-Newman went backwards 18 yards on its next series (thanks to sacks by Kai Russell and Daniel Morrison), and Bonesteel added his fifth field goal to the tally with 2:10 left. By that point, cigars started making appearances on the home side of Irwin Belk Stadium. It was a Wingate kind of day.
Caleb Bonesteel’s Record-Setting, MVP-Clinching Performance
Bonesteel’s monumental day – which included 17 total points – made him a lock for SAC championship game MVP honors. The redshirt junior from Dawsonville, Ga., was money on kicks of 43, 38, 48, 36 and 36 yards.
His performance tied a South Atlantic Conference single-game record for most field goals, last achieved by Chase Allbaugh of Lenoir-Rhyne in 2018 against Florida Tech. Bonesteel joins only three others on this page of the SAC record book. The other two five field-goal games came in the 1970s and ‘80s.
Bonesteel now has 14 field goal makes on the season (in 22 tries) and 24 for his career. He’s missed just one PAT in 32 tries this season.
SAC Championship Game Notable Performances And Stats
More names and key numbers from Wingate’s 28-13 win over Carson-Newman:
- The Bulldogs improved to 9-1 overall, 7-1 against conference foes this season. Carson-Newman dropped to 9-2.
- Reddish, who played for Charlotte’s Independence High, picked up two interceptions on the day, giving him three for the season.
- Russell finished with a team-high 10 tackles, including a forced fumble and 1.5 tackles for loss.
- Morrison added seven tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss in addition to his late sack
- Reigning All-American Marquise Fleming finished with six stops, two tackles-for-loss, a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry.
- Other leading tacklers included Dontorian Best (7) and Diego Aviles (6). Mark Burks and Jonathen Cross combined for a tackle-for-loss
- Wingate managed 256 yards of offense, led by Siemer’s 86 rushing yards and O’Brien Barnett’s 70 rushing yards
- McCray finished with five catches for 49 yards
- Rivers Teeter, who has been SAC specialist of the week multiple times this season, punted three times for a 47.7 yards-per-punt average.
- Carson-Newman managed just 10 yards of total offense in the second half. The Eagles’ touchdown drive started at the Wingate 20, and it took four tries close to the goal line to finally get into the end zone.
- Carson-Newman’s two lowest performances in total offense and rushing offense this season have come against Wingate. The Eagles finished with 45 rushing yards and 235 total in their 31-28 win in September.
- Wingate won its third outright SAC championship, adding to its 2010 and 2017 crowns. The Bulldogs won a share of the 2022 SAC Piedmont title, the first year the league went to divisions.
Looking Ahead To The D2 Football Playoffs
The NCAA Division II playoff bracket will be released on Sunday at 6 p.m. Wingate should be one of the top two seeds in Super Region 2, battling for that spot with Valdosta State.
The number one seed gets a bye from the first round while the other six playoff teams from the region duke it out next weekend. Other schools in the mix for playoff berths from SR2 include Carson-Newman, Wingate’s conference rival Lenoir-Rhyne, West Alabama, Miles, Johnson C. Smith, West Florida, Winston-Salem State, Virginia Union and Virginia State.
Virginia Union won the CIAA title on Saturday. Miles earned the SIAC crown. Valdosta State finished an undefeated season in the Gulf South. Lenoir-Rhyne, the 2023 SAC champions, won for the ninth time Saturday, beating Anderson 27-24
Wingate made a run to the D2 quarterfinals in 2022. Lenoir-Rhyne won Super Region 2 last season en route to the semifinals.
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