Jackson, MS-Saturday's game with the Eagles will be the final home game for Belhaven in the 2008 season. The Blazers are 1-2 in conference play and 2-6 overall. Lambuth has enjoyed good success under first year head coach Hugh Freeze. The Eagles are off to a 6-2 start and own a perfect 3-0 record in the Mid-South Conference Western Division. Lambuth is coming off a convincing 46-28 win against Bethel College last weekend.

                                                   

Belhaven returns to Newell Field after dropping another close game last week at home to Cumberland 46-43. The Blazers will also celebrate Senior Day as the team plays at Shorter and Union College on the road to round out the season.

 

Once again the Blazers jumped out of the gate strong last week taking an early 7-0 lead against the Bulldogs. The game would be a back and forth battle all the way to the end as both sides exchanged turns holding the lead. Unfortunately, the Blazers once again fell just short as a last second pass by Quarterback Jerred Wallace was intercepted as time expired. Belhaven will look to play the role of spoiler on Saturday against the Eagles. Lambuth is riding a six game winning streak after beginning the season at 0-2.     

Belhaven will see a reworked Eagle offensive attack with the passing game playing more of a role compared to past seasons. Lambuth has seven returning starters from last year's offense. Quarterback Joshua Garza turned in a great game against Bethel last week completing 16 of 24 passes for 254 yards and three touchdowns. On the season he has 13 touchdown passes and averages just over 171 yards through the air per game. Landon Talley has been Garza's favorite target this season hauling in 35 passes and eight touchdowns. Talley caught seven balls for 124 yards and two touchdowns against Bethel last week.

 

The ground attack is anchored by freshman tailback Edward Robinson. Robinson carried the ball 16 times for 95 yards last week against the Pilots. The week before against Faulkner, Robinson gashed the Eagles for 186 yards on just 10 carries and added a touchdown. Robinson is averaging 106 yards on the ground per game this season.

              

Belhaven will face a 4-3 defensive look from Lambuth in Saturday's game. Like the offense, the defense is loaded with experience, returning seven starters form a year ago. The Eagles defense is led by tackle Cedric Fisher. Fisher, a 6'3 295 pound senior, is first on the team in total tackles with 59 and has five quarterback sacks which is tops on the team as well. Safeties Dominique Bowman and Ladarrius Madden each have 51 total tackles in 2008. Junior defensive end Ben Algamaua lines up next to Fisher and has recorded 23 tackles and has 3 interceptions. 

 

Lambuth's victories have come against Pikeville, Campbellsville, UVA-Wise, Shorter, Faulkner, and Bethel. Their only two losses have been to Union College and NCAA Division I Murray State.

 

 

Belhaven is looking to finish out the home schedule on a high note this Saturday against Lambuth. The Blazers have sustained a number of close losses this season including last weeks contest against Cumberland. Junior running back Ricardo Bolton had one of the best games of his career last week rushing the ball 13 times for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Bolton also caught five passes for 33 yards and another touchdown. Junior wide receiver Shaun Ector also performed well grabbing six passes for 129 yards and two scores.

 

Junior Quarterback Jerred Wallace fired a total of 50 passes completing 28 of them for 297 yards and three more touchdowns. Wallace has a 58 percent completion percentage on the season to go along with 14 touchdown strikes. Wallace is also averaging 237 yard per game through the air. 

 

On the defensive side of the ball last week, Reginald Lumpkin had nine tackles to lead the team while Melvin Dyson picked up six tackles. Dyson also swatted down two passes by Cumberland Quarterback Matt Eads. The Blazers only had one sack on the afternoon and that was by Baqui Thomas. Belhaven ranks second in the NAIA as a team in sacks per game at 3.8. Individually, Eric Oritz is fifth in the country averaging just over a sack per contest and has a total of 7.5 in 2008. The Bulldogs were effective at keeping Ortiz and company out the backfield due in part to a balanced offensive attack that kept the Blazers guessing all afternoon. Like Cumberland, the Eagles bring in an offense that is solid in both the run and the pass so the Blazers will need to be ready for just about anything in Saturday's game.