November 7, 2009

MARS HILL, N.C. - The Lions lost their regular season finale to SAC rival Wingate University, 56-35 Saturday afternoon at the Ammons Family Athletic Center and Meares Stadium. The Lions dropped to 6-4 overall and 4-3 in the SAC with the loss. Wingate improved to 7-3 on the year and 5-2 in the league.

Prior to the game, MHC recognized their 11 senior players. Josh Johnson (WR), Antonio Lyerly (DB), Dominique Moore (DL), Kadeem Morgan (LB), Antwon Murchinson (DL), Deshun Nesbitt (DB), Jeff Pell (DL), Keadran Pinckney (DB), Joe Sims (OL), Josh Sims (OL) and Jake Walsh (DB) were honored for their contributions to the program.

The teams combined for 972 yards of total offense. Wingate accumulated 520 yards while MHC tallied 452 total yards. Wingate recorded 293 in the air and 227 on the ground. MHC threw for 263 yards and rushed for 189. While Wingate took good care of the ball, Mars Hill fumbled the ball five times and lost possession on four of those miscues.

Cody Haffly (Locust Grove, Ga.) completed 18-30 passes to account for Wingate's passing yardage. He had five touchdown passes in the victory. Delric Ellington (Charlotte, N.C.) was Haffly's favorite target catching five passes for 114 yards and one score. Vince Jordan (Mt. Gilead, N.C.) ran for 123 yards and two scores averaging 6.2 yards per carry. Luis Alvarez (Lake Wales, Fla.) and Robert Fletcher (Lancaster, S.C.) led the Bulldog defense with nine tackles apiece. Alvarez forced a fumble while Fletcher recovered a Lion fumble.

Jonas Randolph (Daleville, Ala.) had another stellar day rushing for the Lions. Already Mars Hill's single season rushing leader, Randolph ran for 186 yards and three scores averaging 6.2 yards per attempt. After today's game, Randolph has 1,804 yards rushing and 19 touchdowns, both are new school records. Josh Johnson (Newland, N.C.) caught six passes for 64 yards to lead the Lions' air attack. Jon Richt (Watkinsville, Ga.) threw for 209 yards completing 16-28 pass attempts. Josh Baker (Skyland, N.C.) led the MHC defense with nine stops. Jeff Pell (West Jefferson, N.C.) followed with seven tackles, a tackle-for-loss and a sack.

Wingate came out of the gates scoring 21 unanswered points in the first quarter and never looked back. Haffly hit Ellington and Philip Thomas (Saint Pauls, N.C.) on touchdown strikes at the 14:11 and 11:02 mark before Jordan dove in from two yards out with 6:50 left in the first frame. Randolph finally put the Lions on the boards with 2:39 left in the first quarter on a six-yard scamper.

Richt scored on a quarterback sneak with 14:56 left in the half to bring the Lions with 21-14 of the Bulldogs but that was as close as MHC would get. Haffly responded by finding Antonio Cotton (Tampa, Fla.) on a 12 yard scoring pass (11:12) and then ran the ball in from a yard out (00:33) to give Wingate a 35-14 halftime advantage.

Wingate scored the only points in the third stanza. Haffly hit Chris Bowden (Forsyth, Ga.) with exactly eight minutes left in the period and then he threw a 10-yard scoring pass to Ryan Webber (Concord, N.C.) with 6:57 left in the third quarter to push the Bulldogs lead to 49-14.

MHC won the final quarter, 21-7 but the damage was already done. Randolph ran in from five yards out (9:52) before Richt had another one-yard rushing score (5:52) to make the score 49-28. Jordan answered for Wingate with a 35 yard run with 5:35 left in regulation to end the Bulldogs scoring at 56 points on the day. Randolph ended the Lions scoring on another five-yard rush with 2:58 on the clock to make the final tally, 56-35.

Boxscore...

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