LAGRANGE, Ga. - The NC Wesleyan College football team picked up their first win of the season on Saturday defeating LaGrange College 26-21 on the road in West Georgia.
Wesleyan struck first scoring on their first drive of the game as senior RB Jeff Black finished off a 4-play drive with a 40-yard TD run. Senior kicker Rafa Niederleytner then put the Bishops up 9-0 a few minutes later with his first career field goal, a 34-yarder.
LaGrange then made it 9-7 at halftime with their 75-yard 2nd quarter drive.
After a scoreless third quarter, Niederleytner again kicked a 33-yarder to put the Bishops up 12-7 with 11 minutes to go. Wesleyan then went on a game-defining 10-play 65-yard drive that ate up 5 minutes of clock in the 4th quarter ending with freshman fullback Trevon Crank's 1-yard TD run.
After another Panther touchdown just 40 seconds later got them within 19-14, the Bishops came back with a 50-yard TD scamper from Crank to make it 26-14 with 2:30 to play. LaGrange would add a late touchdown, but the Bishops would run out the final 1:15 to grab the win.
Each team totaled 17 first downs apiece and nearly 300 yards of total offense while the Bishops ran for 226 yards on the ground led by Crank's 107 yards and two touchdowns. Black also ran for 71 yards and a score while sophomore WR Sean Washington led the receiving corps with 2 catches for 31 yards.
Defensively, junior Deante Lucenti led the defense with 9 tackles while linebacker Charles Sias added 6 tackles, one sack, and two tackles for loss. Safety RJ Carter also had 6 tackles while senior DE Rob Carley tallied 1.5 sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss and 4 total tackles. Senior CB Dmaurien Franklin also returned an interception for 25 yards.
The Bishops improve to 1-3 with the win and 1-1 in the USA South while dropping LC to 1-3 also.
Wesleyan remains on the road next Saturday when they travel to face rival Averett at 6 PM.