Mars Hill rallied from a fourth-quarter deficit to snag a win. Tusculum could not.
Those Saturday afternoon outcomes gave Mars Hill sole possession of first place in the South Atlantic Conference’s Mountain Division with a couple weeks left in the regular season.
The Lions improved to 5-1 in league play (6-1 overall) with a 21-17 win at Carson-Newman.
Quarterback JR Martin scored from two yards out with 1:17 left for the decisive points, capping a nine-play, 89-yard drive. The game-winning series actually covered 98 yards as Martin was sacked at the Lions’ 2-yard line on the first play.
But Martin responded with a 17-yard strike to Simeon Thompson on the next snap for a first down. A 40-yard throw to Jon Gullette pushed the ball to the Carson-Newman 27. Martin followed with a 19-yard rush, and a few players later capped the long-distance march with his third TD of the day — the first two coming on scoring throws to Thompson (40 yards) and Beau DeBerry (10 yards).
Carson-Newman wasn’t finished, though. The Eagles advanced to the Mars Hill 18 with 33 seconds to go. But three straight passes fell incomplete, and Mars Hill ran out the last 12 seconds to seal its third win in a row since losing to Limestone at the end of September.
Mars Hill has two more Mountain Division games remaining, hosting UVA Wise next Saturday and then traveling to Tusculum on Nov. 4.
Tusculum dropped to 4-2 in the SAC standings with a 27-24 overtime loss to Emory & Henry on Saturday.
Landon Honeycutt had 12 tackles for Mars Hill, including a sack. Octaveus Askew and Tarshawn Reed added nine stops apiece. Both had three tackles for loss. Askew picked off a pass.
Hunter Bridges had a huge game punting for the Lions, averaging 48.6 yards on five kicks, sending one 62 yards.
