Jackson, MS-The Belhaven football team is riding a two game winning streak heading into this weekend's Mid-South Conference Western Division showdown against Faulkner University. Saturday's game will be the second road contest of the year for the Blazers. Belhaven's only other road game was at cross town rival Millsaps on September 12^th. Saturday's matchup with the Eagles will be the second overall meeting between the two schools. Belhaven won last year's game at H.T. Newell Field by a final of 49-24.

 

Belhaven running back Ricardo Bolton had a big game against the Eagles last season carrying the ball nine times for 78 yards with a per rush average of 8.7 yards. He also caught two passes for 37 yards and a touchdown. Both teams combined to throw 72 passes with Belhaven racking up 375 yards of total offense.

 

The Blazers enter Saturday's game with an overall record of 2-2 and 2-0 in the MSC Western Division and are fresh off a 21-13 victory over Bethel University (TN) last weekend. Faulkner is 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the MSC Western Division after falling last week to Shorter College 43-27. The Eagles win came against Webber International University back in week one of the season 17-16. Faulkner's other two loses were against Huntingdon College and Union College (KY).

 

The Belhaven football team survived a late charge by the Bethel University (TN) Wildcats on Saturday night and held on for a 21-13 Mid-South Conference victory at H.T. Newell Field. The Blazers jumped ahead 21-3, but the Wildcats battled back to score 10 fourth quarter points to make it close. However, Belhaven put together their best performance of the season against a good football team in whose record is deceiving after playing three ranked teams to begin the season.

 

Belhaven's Alex Williams completed 17 of his 28 pass attempts for 197 yards and three touchdowns. More importantly, Williams took good care of the football and did not throw an interception the entire night. He is averaging 192 yards per game and has six touchdowns so far this year.

 

Cordario Calvin was once again Williams favorite target recording nine receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns. Calvin is Belhaven's leading receiver with five touchdowns and an average of 101 receiving yards per contest. He is also tied for fourth in the country in catches per game with eight. Shaun Ector had two catches for 47 yards and one touchdown against Bethel and Ricardo Bolton led the team in rushing with 11 carries for 44 yards. So far this season, Bolton is rushing for 62.5 yards per game with a per carry average of 4.6 yards.

 

Bolton and Calvin each had 106 all purpose yards in the Bethel game to lead the team in that category. Bolton had the big 62 yard kickoff return which setup one of the Blazer touchdowns. As a team, Belhaven churned out 264 yards of total offense with 67 yards rushing and 197 yards through the air. The Blazers lost two fumbles in the game on Saturday night.

 

Defensively, Belhaven was led by Cameron Achord who had 21 total tackles with one for a loss and a fumble recovery. Achord's performance garnered him Mid-South Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors. He is second on the team in total tacks with 34 and tied for the team lead in solo tackles with 22. Reggie Lumpkin had 13 tackles and a pass breakup against the Wildcats and has been a steady force on defense all year long. Lumpkin leads the team with 37 total stops in 2009. Melvin Dyson, Chris Williams, and Jonathan Gamberi each had sacks for the Blazers while McDonald and Reed both came up with interceptions in the Bethel game.

 

Belhaven will face a Faulkner offense that is similar to their own on Saturday. The Eagles run a spread offense and will put the ball in the air anywhere from 30-40 times on Saturday. Defensively, the Eagles will show multiple fronts with both three and four man lines throughout the course of the game. The Belhaven offense is averaging just under 19 points per game and churns out 318 yards per game.

 

The Eagles are led by second year Head Coach Gregg Baker and play their home football games in the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery Alabama. Faulkner is looking to end a three game losing streak which includes last weekend's loss to Shorter College. The Hawks, whose offense is focused on the run, accumulated a total of 515 rushing yards and had an 8.2 yard carry average as the Eagles struggled to stop them.

 

Faulkner jumped out to a 13-9 first quarter lead, but gave up 20 second quarter points to Shorter and the Hawks were able to retain the advantage from that point on. The Eagles had 220 yards of total offense with 137 of them coming through the air. Freshman Joe Scott is Faulkner's starting quarterback and went 17 for 33 for 134 yards and a touchdown last week at Shorter. Jurrell Williams, Oliver Pollard, and Luther Burton are his favorite targets as they have combined to catch 31 of the teams 70 pass completions.

 

Special Teams could play a factor in Saturday's game and Faulkner has one of the top kickoff returners in the country. Triston McCathern returned a kickoff last week 99 yards for a touchdown. In the Shorter game, he returned four kicks for a total of 177 yards. McCathern is third in the nation in total kickoff return yards with 342 and is 6^th in the NAIA in yards per kickoff return average at 31. The Blazers will have to figure out a way to keep him contained and prevent the big play in the return game.

 

Defensively, Belhaven will have to keep an eye on linebacker Sean Thom who is second in the nation in tackles per game with just over 13. Landon Taylor, Anthony Haywood, Matt Fleck and Quinton Prothro will also be around the football. Prothro has forced a pair of fumbles so far this season. As a team, the Eagles are surrendering 485 yards of total offense per game.