Official Stats
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven football team battled the mud and a stingy Cumberland University defense earning a hard fought 7-6 overtime victory on the road Saturday afternoon in LeBanon, TN. Saturday's game was a pivotal Mid-South Conference Western Division contest as the Blazers hang on to first place in the division with the win.

                                     

Belhaven (5-3, 4-0 MSC) took the ball to begin the game, but the Bulldog defense shut the Blazer offense down forcing a three and out. Belhaven punted the ball away to Cumberland (3-5, 1-2 MSC) as Michael Wilson pinned the Bulldogs deep on their own 13 following a 54 yard kick. As would be the case much of the afternoon, Cumberland marched the ball down the field and had a third down on the Blazer 16 yard line. Quarterback Curt Bureau had his pass picked off by Tramaine Brock who returned it back to the Cumberland 42 yard line denying the Bulldog offense .The Bulldogs made five trips into the red zone and failed to score on each of them.

 

Following the interception by Brock, the Blazers could not move the chains after going for a fourth and three as Barry Johnson came up a yard short of the first down. Later in the half, Cumberland also failed to convert on fourth down after once again moving the ball deep into Belhaven territory. Christian Burnett, who replaced an injured Bureau, could not complete a fourth down and seven pass as Belhaven denied the Bulldogs once again. Belhaven took over and tried to mount a late second quarter drive only to see it come to an end with six seconds left in the half on a fumble by Kevin Dizer. The first half ended on a Burnett incomplete pass as the teams headed into the locker room in a 0-0 stalemate.

 

The Belhaven offensive continued to be stymied in the third quarter with both possessions ending on Jerred Wallace interceptions. Fortunately, the Bulldogs did not fare much better with another drive stalling on a failed fourth down conversion and on Brock's second interception of the game. The third quarter clock expired with the scoreboard showing 0-0 and Belhaven in possession of the football.

 

The Blazers eventually punted the ball back to Cumberland as the Bulldogs took over on their own 12 yard line with 12:55 remaining in regulation. Cumberland engineered a 13 play 80 yard drive and faced a third down and five on the Blazer eight yard line. Belhaven's defense stepped up again and stopped the Bulldogs for no gain on a pass completion from Burnett to Zack Ducker. Faced with a tough decision, Cumberland Head Coach Dewayne Alexander called on defensive lineman Josh Smith to attempt a 27 yard field goal. The Bulldogs lost their field goal kicker earlier in the week and Smith pushed the ball wide right keeping the score at 0-0.

 

The Blazers took over the ball on the 20 yard line with 6:25 on the clock and put together their best drive of the game. Belhaven fed the ball on a consistent basis to running back Ricardo Bolton who churned out 36 yards on the ground during the drive. Wallace also made some key pass completions with the biggest going to Shaun Ector for 18 yards placing the ball at the Cumberland 14 yard line. That's when Cumberland's defense tightened up again and shut the drive down on the 16 yard line. Belhaven then called on place kicker Justin Miller with 1:05 left to attempt a 33 yard field goal. Apparently, the kick went wide right and Belhaven narrowly missed potentially putting the game away in regulation. Cumberland proceeded to run out the clock and force overtime.

 

The Bulldogs took the ball first and began the drive at Belhaven's 25 yard line. Unlike the NFL, in college football both teams get at least one possession in overtime to try and win the game. It took Cumberland only five plays to punch it into the end zone as Mitch McChurch took a handoff and reeled off an eight yard touchdown run to make it 6-0. Instead kicking an extra point, the Bulldogs went for two and Burnett's pass fell short of tight end Kenny Sallis who appeared to be open in the end zone.

 

Down 6-0, Belhaven went up top to Jarrard Sterling on the first play, but he could not quite real in the pass from Wallace in the back of the end zone. However, Bolton came up big again for the Blazers with a 14 yard reception that moved the ball to the 11 yard line setting up a first and 10. After an incomplete pass, the Blazers and Wallace beat an all out blitz by Cumberland finding Bolton in the right flat for an 11 yard touchdown to tie the game at 6-6. Miller came in and split the uprights with the extra point as Belhaven escaped with a 7-6 overtime win over the Bulldogs.

 

Bolton led the offense carrying the ball 14 times for 57 yards while hauling in five receptions for 46 yards and the game winning score. For Bolton, it was his sixth touchdown catch and seventh touchdown overall in 2009. Wallace completed 15 of his 25 pass attempts for 121 yards and a touchdown. Wallace also had a couple of second half interceptions. Cordario Calvin was the team's second leading receiver having made five receptions for 35 yards. As a team, Belhaven ran 50 plays for 197 yards and possessed the ball for 22:02.

 

Defensively, Belhaven had another great effort from Tramaine Brock with two more interceptions and three total tackles. Brock now has a team high five interceptions on the season. Reggie Lumpkin and Cameron Achord led the team in total tackles with 13 apiece followed by Jeffery Maxwell who brought down 11 ball carriers. Lumpkin has 80 tackles on the season and is nearing Belhaven's all time tackles record with each and every game. Achord is second on the Belhaven defense with 54 tackles this year. Chad Smith had nine tackles and a sack while Jonathan Gamberi and Jack Hayes were each credited with a half sack. Jonathan Reed was responsible for the Blazer's other takeaway thanks to a fumble recovery in the third quarter.

 

Cumberland was led by running back Ken Dixon with 17 carries for 115 yards. McChurch had 14 carries for 52 yards and a touchdown. Burnett completed 10 of 16 passes for 77 yards with one interception. His favorite target was Zack Ducker who had five receptions for 29 yards. The Bulldogs racked up 315 yards of total offense, but could only muster the one overtime score despite the yardage and a possession time of 37:58. Cumberland had 194 yards of rushing on the afternoon. Defensively, Ben Miller tallied 13 tackles and two sacks followed by Todd Holman with nine tackles.