Ferrum, Va. - Senior Jacques Alston rushed for a career-high 218 yards and three touchdowns to lead his North Carolina Wesleyan football team to a 34-30 USA South victory at Ferrum College on Saturday. Alston and teammate Brice Wordsworth also hauled in scoring catches to pace the Battling Bishops, who even their record at 2-2 on the season, 1-1 in conference play.
After Ferrum took an initial 7-0 lead, Wesleyan reeled off 20 unanswered points to quiet the Panthers' Homecoming crowd. The onslaught began with a 60-yard run by Alston that got the Bishops on the board, and on Wesleyan's next possession, junior QB Dustin Midgett connected with Alston for a 73-yard scoring strike. Wordsworth's first career touchdown later capped a 7-play, 53-yard drive just 46 seconds into the second quarter.
Ferrum QB Tim Reynolds tallied the second of his three rushing TDs on the day midway the period, but Alston again came through for the Bishops with a 41-yard rushing score that gave NCWC a 27-14 lead at the break.
The Panthers managed the only points of the third quarter on a Reynolds TD and defensive safety.
Up 27-23, the Bishops opened the final 15 minutes of play with a 1st-and-goal at the Ferrum 10-yardline. Driving down to the FC-3, head coach Jeff Filkovski elected to go for the 21-yard field goal to potentially put his team up a touchdown. Unfortunately, the kick missed wide right, and the Panthers took advantage with a 7-play, 80-yard drive that gave them a 30-27 advantage.
The two teams proceeded to trade 3-and-outs, but Ferrum's was followed by one of the biggest defensive plays of the day. Punting from their own 39, the Panthers' Tyler Morgan saw his punt blocked by NCWC freshman Camara Rawls and recovered by the Bishops at the FC-14. Two Alston runs later, Wesleyan was back on top 34-30.
Reynolds looked to play hero late, but his fourth down pass from the NCWC-24 was caught out of the endzone to give Wesleyan the ball back with 3:39 remaining. Alston then put his team on his back with a trio of first down runs, including a 13-yarder on 3rd-and-12 that allowed the Bishops run out the clock.
Alston's 218 yards is the third highest single-game total in NCWC program history, just eight yards shy of the record. It is the Kenly, N.C. native's second straight 200+ yard game versus Ferrum -- he put up 205 yards against the Panthers last season.
Midgett finished 7-of-14 through the air for 155 yards and a pair of TDs, while defensively, freshman Jaylon Johnson tallied a game-high 15 tackles. Joining him in double-figure stops were James Wallace, Michael Clemmons and Stanley Danzey with 11, 11 and 10, respectively.
Wesleyan returns home next Saturday with a USA South match-up with Averett University. Kickoff is slated for 1:00pm at Bishop Stadium.