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McKenzie, TN-Often times in the game of football, the team that has the fewest turnovers is going to win the game. That was just the case Saturday night as the Blazers turned the ball over six times and fell in their conference opener at Bethel College 31-21. Belhaven outgained the Wildcats in total offensive yardage 446 to 291 and the Blazers dominated in the passing game, with exception of four interceptions, 304 to 164 yards. The Blazers also had two fumbles and those combined with the interceptions could very well have made the difference in the game.

 

The first score of the contest came on an interception by Wade Vandergriff as he picked off Andrew Carcich and returned it eleven yards for the score with 12:29 remaining in the first quarter. The Blazers would answer back and tie the score at seven when Andrew Carcich found Kyle Henry open for a 14 yard touchdown strike at the 6:37 mark of the first quarter. Then the Wildcats would score the next 24 points and build a commanding 31-7 lead with 10:12 remaining to go in quarter number three.

 

Belhaven did not give up as Jerrod Wallace led the Blazers on a scoring drive culminating in a 52 yard touchdown pass to Anthony Embry and with the extra point that made the score 31-14. Just under four minutes later Belhaven found the end zone again on another Wallace touchdown pass, this time to Ricardo Bolton with 2:44 in the third, and just like that Belhaven was back in the game.

 

Belhaven had a chance to pull even closer late in the game, but kicker Justin Miller could not connect on a 37 yard field goal attempt and the score remained at 31-21 in favor of Bethel. From that point, Bethel began to go to work on the clock and a last ditch effort by the Blazers to get back in it fell short.

 

Offensively, the Blazers were led by Jerred Wallace who completed 17 of 29 passing attempts for 194 yards and two touchdowns. Damien Davis carried the ball eight times for 62 yards to lead the rushing attack. Anthony Embry had six receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown and Jeffrey Maxwell caught 7 passes for 55 yards. Ricardo Bolton and Kyle Henry each had touchdown receptions to account for the Blazers scoring.

 

Defensively, Reginald Lumpkin turned in ten tackles and a sack while Jonathan Gamberi and Baqui Thomas each recorded 1.5 sacks a piece. The defense did a nice job in the second half to keep Belhaven in the game keeping the Wildcats off the board for the 25 minutes of the game giving the offense a chance to get back in it.