Maryville, Tenn. - Maryville scored 14 unanswered points in the third quarter to pull away for a 31-17 USA South victory over North Carolina Wesleyan on Saturday. The Scots are now 2-0 in league play, while the Bishops are 1-1.
MVC's Alex Willard and NCWC's Christopher Richardson traded 31- and 22-yard field goals in the first quarter to open up the scoring. Both defenses held strong for most of the second quarter before the Scots went up 10-3 on a Trenton Shuler 3-yard run with less that two minutes remaining. The Bishops, however, responded with a 77-yard drive in 1:29 to force a 10-10 tie at the half. Jeremy Carr did the honors, pulling down a 14-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Nathan Gardner in the back of the endzone.
Unfortunately, the third quarter was all Maryville. Gardner threw a trio of picks in the period, the last of which led to a Scots touchdown and made the score 24-10. The Bishops pulled to within a score, 24-17, on a 23-yard scoring strike from Gardner to senior Malik Adams with 7:59 to go, but the day would belong to MVC. The Scots put together a 7-play, 54-yard TD drive that ate up nearly four minutes of the clock and effectively sealed the win.
Adams finished with 11 receptions for 172 yards on the day, while Adrian Minondo racked up 85 rushing yards. For the Scots, Shuler notched 62 yards on the ground with three TDs.
Defensively, senior Rakeem Cooper made ten stops for the Bishops, who dominated time of possession but gave up 455 total offensive yards. Wesleyan also recorded 22 first downs to the Scots' 20.
Next up for the Bishops is a Homecoming match-up with conference rival Methodist University next Saturday at Rocky Mount Athletic Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 1:00pm.