Jackson, MS-The Belhaven football team returns home on Saturday following two straight road games at Faulkner University and West Virginia Tech this past weekend to battle Campbellsville University. Saturday's tilt will be another Mid-South Conference cross divisional contest and will be the 12^th meeting between the two schools. The Tigers defeated the Blazers last season 35-33, but Belhaven holds the overall series lead at 6-5 and have won three of the last four in the series which began in 1998.

 

Last season's game turned out to be a track meet with both teams racking up over 400 yards of total offense. Belhaven quarterback Jerred Wallace passed the ball 55 times and completed 33 of the attempts for 342 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. Ricardo Bolton carried the ball 14 times for 62 yards and score. Bolton was also second on the team in receiving in last year's contest with seven catches for 88 yards. Shaun Ector led the Blazers a season ago against the Tigers hauling in eight passes for 91 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Defensively, Reggie Lumpkin had a big day with 10 tackles, with two for a loss which included a quarterback sack.

 

Belhaven enters Saturday's game with an overall record of 4-2 and own a perfect 3-0 mark in Mid-South Conference Western Division play. Belhaven is also receiving votes in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll. The Blazers are coming off a 17-7 win at West Virginia Tech University last weekend. Campbellsville owns an overall record of 3-3 and are 1-1 in the Mid-South Conference Eastern Division. The Tigers suffered a tough 32-31 loss at home against Virginia-Wise last weekend. Campbellsville's biggest win of the season was a 42-28 decision on the road at Shorter College October 1^st.

 

After starting the season 0-2, the Belhaven football team has won their last four games including a Mid-South Conference cross divisional victory on the road over West Virginia Tech last Saturday afternoon 17-7. The Blazers got a couple of big plays on offense and the defense played well for the fourth consecutive week to help bring home the win.

 

Jerred Wallace, who came into the game early in the first quarter, led the Belhaven passing attack with 177 yards and had two touchdown passes to Bolton. He was officially 6 of 14 and also threw one interception. Alex Williams started the game and went 5 for 12 with a couple of interceptions and 32 yards.

 

Ricardo Bolton led the Blazers in rushing with 59 yards, caught four passes for 106 yards with two scores, and racked up 165 all purpose yards. Bolton now has five TD catches this season which is second on the team to Cordario Calvin who has six in 2009. Calvin hauled in three receptions for 38 yards and carried the ball twice for 15 yards. As a team, the Blazer offense had 314 total yards with 240 of them coming through the air. Belhaven had the edge in time of possession holding the ball for 32:09 in the game.

 

On the defensive side of the ball, Reggie Lumpkin led the charge with a team high 10 total tackles including one for a loss. Lumpkin leads the team in tackles this season with 54. Jack Hayes collected eight tackles with 2.5 for a loss and was credited with half a sack. Brock had five tackles, a sack, and a pair of interceptions. He was consistently disrupting plays and putting pressure on the Golden Bear quarterbacks. Jonathan Reed had the other Blazer interception giving him a team high of three on the season.

 

The Belhaven defense held the Golden Bear offense to 140 total yards and took away the passing attack allowing only 44 yards through the air. West Virginia Tech also hurt themselves with penalties committing 16 infractions for 108 yards. The Blazers also had 10 penalties in the game for 89 yards. As a team, Belhaven's defense is ranked seventh in the NAIA  in pass defense at 95 yards per game and 21^st in total defense.

 

The Blazers will face a balanced offensive attack from Campbellsville that likes to set up the pass with the run. If the Tigers are successful in the running game, it sets up their play-action passing attack which looks for the big play down the field. Campbellsville will show a 3-3-5 look on defense and they like to blitz. The Blazers have seen two very aggressive defenses in Faulkner and West Virginia Tech the last two weeks and will see the same on Saturday.

 

The Tigers are led by Head Coach Perry Thomas and have won two of their last three games after starting the season 1-2. Campbellsville is trying to rebound from their tough loss last week to Virginia-Wise after jumping out to a 31-14 lead. The Cavs exploded for 18 unanswered third quarter points to pull out the victory. The Tigers outgained Virginia-Wise in total offense with 437 yards compared to 384 yards for the Cavs.

 

Nathan Cooper is the starting quarterback for Campbellsville and had a good game against Virginia-Wise with 20 completions for 281 yards and three touchdowns. On the season, Cooper is completing 52% of his passes and averages 191 yards per game through the air. He has five touchdown passes in 2009, but has also thrown four interceptions. Harold Small is one of Cooper's favorite targets with 19 receptions and three touchdowns this season. Calvin Mann has also caught 19 passes and has two touchdowns to his credit this year.

 

The Tigers have a talented running back in Dy'lan Underwood. Underwood rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown against Virginia-Wise which was right around his season average of 110 yards per game. Cooper will also take off from the quarterback position when he sees an opening. Cooper carried the ball eight times last week for 46 yards in their loss to the Cavs. Cooper averages around 23 yards per game on the ground this season.

 

Defensively, Trap Wiliams led Campbellsville in the Virginia-Wise game with six total tackles. Sherm Williams and William Harris each tallied two of the Tigers eight sacks last week. Harris leads the team in sacks this season with 4.5 and Trey Mayes is second on the team with 3.5. Mayes is also the leading tackler with 48 followed by Jeffery DeMary with 43. As a team, the Tigers are 6^th in the NAIA in total sacks with 19 and Harris is 14^th in the country in total sacks. On special teams, Campbellsville boasts a strong kickoff return game that features Harold Small who is 10^th in the NAIA in kick off return yards per attempt at 29.6.