ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. - The NC Wesleyan College football team dropped their final home game of the season on Saturday falling 50-29 to USA South conference foe Huntingdon College (Ala.) on Senior Day in Rocky Mount.
The Hawks got out to a quick and big lead with a 21 point first quarter using a 83-yard kick return and short fields to build their 21-3 lead at the end of the quarter. HC then sandwiched two field goals around a Wesleyan 7-yard touchdown pass from junior QB Donielle Totten to freshman WR Jai Irvin to lead 27-9 at halftime. The Bishops had thought they had recoverd a muffed punt in the end zone for a score to cut HC's lead down to 21-10, but it was later determined to be a touchback.
Huntingdon then outscored the Bishops 16-7 in the third with Wesleyan's second touchdown coming on a long catch-and-run pass from Totten to sophomore WR Dupre Falls as Wesleyan trimmed the deficit to 33-16 with 8 minutes to play in the third. Unfortunately, the Hawks then stretched their lead to 43-16 at the end of the third.
NCWC then outscored the Hawks 13-7 in the fourth but fell short as Wesleyan's two late touchdowns were not enough in the end. Wesleyan's first touchdown was a 44-yard touchdown pass from Totten to sophomore WR Quintavian Cullars at the start of the fourth while their second score was as the clock ran out with junior Tight End Ben Dorfman catching a final pass from Totten.
"Huntingdon has been king of the conference for the past five years," coach Jeff Filkovski noted. "They're not going to just fall off the map and we didn't see them as their record (2-5) indicated. A very well coached team, they play a physical style.
They made the plays and we didn't."
Totten ended up finishing the game throwing 23 of 38 for 337 yards and 4 TDs with one interception in relief of senior Nate Gardner. Senior WR Trey Lancaster then caught 8 balls for 146 yards including a beautiful 40-yard catch. It was Lancaster's 5th 100 yard game this season. Dorfman also caught 8 passes for 77 yards and a TD while senior RB Adrian Minondo ran for 67 yards.
The two offenses also combined for over 1,000 yards of total offense with Wesleyan throwing for 411 yards.
Defensively, the Bishops were led by junior linebacker Antonio Johnson's 12 total tackles while junior safety Marcus Leggett also recorded ten tackles, a pass break-up and 1.5 tackles for loss. Junior defensive tackle RJ Smalls also recorded a sack and a fumble recovery for the Bishops while junior middle linebacker Isaiah Williams had a sack and 8 tackles as well.
Huntingdon improves to 3-5 overall and 3-3 in the conference while Wesleyan falls to 5-3 and 4-2 in the conference. NCWC is next in action next Saturday at conference leader Maryville College (Tenn.) (6-2, 6-0) at 1 PM.