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Beary good
L-R off to 2-0 start
Alan Rogers
Lenoir-Rhyne University running back Joey Robinson (right) scrambles away from Concord defensive players Rusty Coeburn (left) and Jeffery Mahlhaff in Saturday’s game at Moretz Field.
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Published: September 7, 2008
HICKORY - Barry Tate touched off a Lenoir-Rhyne University explosion.
The senior cornerback's two punt returns set up two of the three touchdowns that the Bears scored within three minutes and eight seconds in a 28-10 win over Concord, W.Va., Saturday night at Moretz Stadium.
L-R, which played most of the game with third-stringer Jeremy Buchanan at quarterback, is now 2-0 for the first time since 2000.
Concord (0-2) led 10-7 in the third quarter before Tate ignited the Bears with his returns.
"It was nothing I really did," he said. "It took the whole team, blocking."
Tate, who had returned a kickoff 40 yards after an early field goal by Concord, took a third-quarter punt and returned it 21 yards to the Mountain Lions' 20.
"I told my guys I was going to set them up in good field position and they took it in," Tate said.
On the first play after Tate's runback, fullback Andrew Courman fought his way into the end zone, giving L-R the lead for good, with 3:05 remaining in the third period.
Shortly thereafter, a 38-yard punt return by Tate and a face mask penalty put L-R on the Concord 17. The Bears scored on the next play, in which Joey Robinson took a downfield lateral from Buchanan, with 36 seconds left in the third quarter.
L-R scored again, 39 seconds later, on a 5-yard run by Courman, giving the Bears three touchdowns in four plays. They had taken possession when Carl Brooks intercepted a pass, which was tipped by teammate Dewayne Jones, and returned it 32 yards.
Buchanan, a former walk-on who was red-shirted as a freshman last season, entered the game after true freshman quarterback Major Herron injured his ankle while slipping on a carry with 11:10 remaining in the second quarter.
Herron, who gained 68 yards in nine carries, started in place of Justin Sanders, a victim of a hamstring injury earlier in the week.
"He (Sanders) could have gone in an extreme emergency," L-R coach Fred Goldsmith said.
Buchanan quarterbacked a 73-yard, nine-play drive that he finished with a 3-yard run for L-R's first points, with 1:38 left in the first half.
"He's always been heady; he's always been smart," Goldsmith said. "(Offensive coordinator) Tommy (Laurendine) told him what to do and he (Buchanan) ran the game."
Concord, which had lost 77-14 to Carson-Newman in its opener, had taken a 10-0 lead as a result of two long gains. James Wilson ran 40 yards to the L-R 15 after the first play of the game, setting up a field goal, and Chris Carter got behind a defender to score on a 47-yard pass from Thomas Frazier with 12:46 to go in the second quarter.
"I think a year ago we'd have lost this ball game," Goldsmith said. "This year a guy (Buchanan) comes in here and plays real well."
After Concord's field goal, with only 1:51 elapsed in the game, Tate's kickoff return started an L-R possession that ended on downs at the Mountain Lions' 10. On fourth-and-4 from the 13, Goldsmith refused to try a field goal and Courman was stopped after a 3-yard gain.
"I preach to them that this ("Bear bone") is a four-down offense," the coach explained, "and I wanted to show them that we had confidence in them."
Defensively, the Bears shut out their opponents in the second half for the second straight week.
Marcus Shuford, a sophomore from Newton-Conover High, led L-R with 11 tackles, nine in the first half.
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