Lenoir-Rhyne University scored its highest point total against a South Atlantic Conference opponent in 15 years.
It wasn't enough, though.
Wingate University scored a touchdown with 43 seconds to play to defeat the Bears 50-49 in L-R's homecoming game Saturday afternoon.
The Bears, who beat Catawba 59-21 in 1994, gained 477 yards to the Bulldogs' 382 but fell to 4-3 overall, 1-2 in the SAC.
"I feel like we were the best football team out there," L-R head coach Fred Goldsmith said.
"I thought our kids played their hearts out. Obviously, they played well enough to win."
But L-R lost three turnovers, which were worse than costly – they were bankrupting.
Wingate:
—Returned one fumble for a 52-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
—Advanced another recovery 39 yards to the L-R 1, setting up a third-quarter TD.
—Recovered a fumble on the Bears' 47, leading to a 43-yard scoring pass from Cody Haffly to Perry Floyd that cut an L-R lead to 49-44 with 7:30 to play.
"Last week, zero," Goldsmith said, referring to the number of turnovers L-R lost in a 38-17 victory at Tusculum. "That's the difference between a big win and a heartbreaking loss."
The defeat was also wrenching because L-R led 28-7 after less than 16 minutes, 42-21 in the third quarter and 49-32 before Floyd returned a kickoff 89 yards for one of his three touchdowns, with 11:03 left in the game.
It was 49-44 when an L-R punt was downed on the Wingate 9 with 3:58 to go. The Bulldogs (5-1, 3-0) then drove 91 yards in 18 plays, the last of which saw Nelson Woods slicing into the end zone for the 1.
"We made a lot of crucial plays in that drive, like it was practice," Wingate head coach Joe Reich said.
After Woods gave Wingate the lead, for the first time, L-R's Devan Pointer returned a short kickoff 18 yards to the Bulldogs' 44. The Bears then tried three passes, all incomplete, and Colin Corpe's 61-yard field goal attempt fell quite short with 17 seconds remaining.
The ending of the game contrasted greatly with the beginning. Fullback Byron Darby bolted 65 yards for a touchdown on L-R's second play of the day and he bulldogged into the end zone to finish a 28-yard run on the Bears' fourth play.
After L-R quarterback Justin Sanders scored on a 3-yard keeper with six seconds left in the first quarter, Wingate seemingly ignored a short kickoff that was recovered by the Bears' Brad McClaugherty on the Bulldogs' 22. Sanders passed over the middle to Nick Stutts for a 20-yard touchdown and L-R had its 28-7 lead with 14:10 left in the second quarter.
James Pone scored on sweeps of 18 and 9 yards and the Bears, who gained 305 yards in the first half, led by 21 again in the third quarter.
It was 49-32 after substitute quarterback Major Herron scored on a 2-yard run through the right side with 11:18 to play in the game.
Wingate then completed a rally in which it scored a field goal and four touchdowns in the final 16 minutes and 17 seconds.
L-R finished with 430 yards rushing, including 111 by Sanders, 109 by Darby and 91 by Andrew Courman.
Haffly completed 29-of-44 passes for 311 yards and three touchdowns for Wingate.
The teams' 99 combined points were the second-most ever scored in an L-R game. King beat L-R 206-0 in 1922.
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