Montgomery, AL- The NC Wesleyan College football team used a strong defensive effort to upend conference leader Huntingdon College (Ala.) 23-7 on the road Saturday afternoon.
Senior TE Ben Dorfman and junior RB Jeff Black led the Bishop offense with scores while Senior LB Antonio Johnson sealed the game with a 96-yard interception return touchdown late in the fourth.
Wesleyan also controlled the time of possession by an impressive 17 minutes, 38-21, and had 8 more first downs than the Hawks as senior QB Donielle Totten threw for 199 yards as well. Wesleyan led 7-0 after one quarter as an opening 71-yard drive ended with Dorfman catching a 24-yard pass from Totten. The game remained tied at 7 at halftime before Wesleyan used an Eddie Graham field goal in the third quarter that chewed up 7 and a half minutes of time on a 15-play drive.
The Bishops then used a 17-play 92-yard drive that ate up nearly 10 minutes of game time which saw Wesleyan take a 16-7 lead on a Black five yard TD run with just 9 minutes to play in the game. Black would finish the game with 69 yards on the ground and 81 total yards from scrimmage. Johnson's interception return then ended any hopes Huntingdon had of trying to get back into the game.
Dorfman also led the Bishop receivers with 77 yards on 8 receptions.
Johnson led the defense with 13 total tackles and 11 solo along with 2 sacks, 3 tackles-for-loss and an interception. Fellow middle linebacker, senior Isaiah Williams, also had a nice game totaling 9 tackles along with a sack, 2 TFL, an interception and a pass breakup. Senior nose tackle Jeff Person also had 5 tackles and two for a loss in the win.
The Bishops improve to 5-4 overall and 4-2 in the conference as they clinched a winning conference record while Huntingdon falls to 5-1 in conference and 6-3 overall.
They return to action for their final home game on Senior day next Saturday at 12 noon with an on campus game vs. Maryville at the Vernon T. Bradley Football Complex.