Lenoir-Rhyne football was the only North Carolina team standing after the first weekend of crossover games in the South Atlantic Conference.
The Bears, who play in the league’s Piedmont Division, returned home from Mountain rival Mars Hill with a 29-21 come-from-behind victory. Coach Doug Socha’s team improved to 3-0 overall on the young season and began its conference title defense on a positive note.
“It felt great to get a win on the road to start conference play,” Socha said in the team’s official post-game release. “We had to battle from behind to get it done. I love the resilience I saw from our team today.”
Wingate, which knocked off a nationally ranked Delta State team last week, fell in overtime at Carson-Newman. Barton was blanked by Emory & Henry, while Catawba suffered a narrow defeat at UVA Wise.
Lenoir-Rhyne 29, Mars Hill 21
Mars Hill took a 21-10 lead early in the third quarter after a one-yard TD run by JR Martin. It was the Lion quarterback’s third touchdown of the day (two rushing, one passing), and the Bears looked on the ropes.
But Lenoir-Rhyne battled back, getting two field goals from Jake Brown to close out the third period, making the score 21-16. An Alex Boyd 1-yard touchdown run with 8:48 left put Lenoir-Rhyne on top 22-21. Songa Yates then padded the lead with a 78-yard TD reception from Jalen Ferguson less than two minutes later…
Ferguson finished with 304 yards passing on a 25-of-39 day … Martin had two rushing TDs despite finishing with a net minus-five yards on the ground (he was sacked four times).
Jaelin Willis had eight stops and three tackles-for-loss for the Bears, including two sacks. Steven Reid (12 tackles) and Dexter Fitzpatrick (11 tackles) led the Mars Hill defense.
Carson-Newman 31, Wingate 28 (OT)
The Bulldogs dominated parts of the stat sheet, earning 347 yards of offense and holding the Eagles to 235. But Carson-Newman blocked a field goal and an extra point, returning the muffed PAT for 2 points. C-N also sacked Wingate seven times.
Wingate tied the game 28-28 when Carlos Estronza caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Brooks Bentley with 6:18 left. But the ‘Dogs were unable to score in overtime. Carson-Newman’s Bennett Smith hit a 34-yard field goal on its possession for the win.
Emory & Henry 41, Barton 0
The Wasps improved to 3-0 and held the Bulldogs from Wilson off the scoreboard … The game was tied 0-0 until Emory & Henry’s first passing touchdown midway through the second quarter…
Barton managed just seven first downs and only 149 yards of total offense, while E&H wracked up 536 total yards.
Connor Stanley and Mike Webb picked off passes for Barton.
UVA Wise 31, Catawba 28
Preston Brown threw for 304 yards and a touchdown but it wasn’t quite enough. UVA Wise scored what would be the winning 24-yard field goal with 3:43 left…
LJ Turner had a big day for the Indians, leading his team in both receiving yards (84) and rushing yards (110). He hauled in an 84-yard reception from Brown and later found the end zone on a 26-yard ground gainer…
Marquece Williams added a pair of short yardage touchdowns for Catawba and finished with 84 yards on the ground.
Evan Simmons had 12 tackles for Catawba (1-2, 0-1 SAC). Deno Wardlow and Jamal Boyd added 10 tackles each.
