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Rough ending

Eagles rally to defeat Bears

John M Setzler Jr

Lenoir-Rhyne's Andrew Courman gets through the Carson-Newman defense to score the Bear's first touchdown of Saturday night's game.

By Gary Olinger

Record Sports Correspondent

Published: October 18, 2009

HICKORY - For the second straight week, the fourth quarter belonged to Lenoir-Rhyne University's opponents.

Carson-Newman scored two touchdowns in the final 13 minutes and nine seconds to defeat L-R 17-13 while the temperature dropped into the 40s Saturday night.

The win, Carson-Newman's 31st in a row against the Bears, gave the 25th-ranked Eagles (6-2, 4-0) sole possession of first place in the South Atlantic Conference.

L-R (4-4, 1-3) has been outscored by a total of 17 points in its four losses.

The Bears, who led Wingate 49-32 in the fourth period before losing 50-49 on Oct. 10, were ahead 13-3 before the Eagles rallied.

"Three short fields we gave them in the fourth quarter," L-R head coach Fred Goldsmith said.

"We didn't cover two punts like we should.

"Thirteen-to-three, a two-score deal, and we didn't do what we were supposed to do on the kickoff."

He was referring to Brando Haywood's 35-yard return to the Carson-Newman 48, after Colin Corpe had increased L-R's lead to 10 points by kicking a line-drive, 27-yard field goal with 1:29 remaining in the third quarter.

Carson-Newman, which won its sixth straight game this season, scored on a 7-yard pass from Alex Good to Buck Wakefield with 13:09 to play.

After receiving a punt, the Eagles drove from their 47 to the L-R 10 before the Bears' Chris Carter recovered a fumble with 9:23 left.

The next time the Eagles got the ball they drove 41 yards for the winning touchdown.

"We were just telling our guys we just gotta make every possession count," Good said. ""Our offensive line did a good job of blocking and executed the plays the coaches called."

Good passed to Reggie Hubbard, who took the ball away from an L-R defender, for a 22-yard score, putting Carson-Newman ahead for the first time, with 5:09 to play.

L-R then drove as far as the Carson-Newman 22 before giving up the ball for the last time. Fullback Le'Quan McCorkle of Bandys High started the drive by gaining 24, 15 and 6 yards, but, on fourth-and-6 from the 22, Carson-Newman knocked the ball out of quarterback Justin Sanders' hands on a sack with 1:09 to go.

Sanders finished with 88 yards rushing and 65 passing as L-R outgained Carson-Newman 298-265. Victor Nito led the Bears' defense with nine tackles, two for losses.

"The defense played fantastic," Goldsmith said. "The last two years Carson-Newman made as many yards in the first five minutes than what they made all night tonight.

"They (the L-R defensive players) played their assignments well, hit and did everything well."

L-R had taken a 7-0 lead after Jamont Jones returned the opening kickoff 65 yards to the Carson-Newman 24. Sinx plays later, Andrew Courman scored on a 5-yard sweep around the left side.

The Bears were ahead 10-3 after Corpe kicked a 21-yard field goal with 2:51 remaining in the first quarter.

Sanders broke loose for runs of 56 and 35 yards in the second and third quarters. L-R penetrated as far as the Carson-Newman 21 after each of Sanders' runs, but miscues took the Bears out of scoring position on both possessions.

Carson-Newman had the ball in L-R territory only twice in the first 43 minutes.

The Eagles had a first-and-goal on the Bears' 4, but a fourth-down pass was blocked by L-R linebacker Jacarri Bowden with 25 seconds remaining in the first half.