Official Stats
Montgomery, AL-The Belhaven football team recorded their third straight victory on Saturday afternoon with a 29-10 Mid-South Conference Western Division triumph against Faulkner University at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery Alabama. Belhaven scored the first 22 points of the contest and the defense kept the Eagle offense off balance for the entire contest helping the Blazers remain atop the MSC Western Division.

Both defenses held strong for the majority of the first period, but the Belhaven (3-2, 3-0) offense was finally able to get something going late in the quarter. The Blazers forced the Eagles to go three and out deep in their own territory setting up good field position for the offense to work with. Jared Corder's punt from the 12 yard line was fair caught by Belhaven's Justin Novak at the Faulkner 44.

 

The Blazers moved the ball to the 23 yard line and on 3 down and 13 quarterback Alex Williams connected with Ricardo Bolton on a 20 yard pass and catch to set up first and goal at the Eagle three yard line. On second down from the one, Williams took it in himself on the quarterback sneak to make it 6-0 Belhaven. The Blazers then ran a fake extra point and on an option play kicker Justin Miller took the pitch from holder Barry Johnson and raced it into the end zone for a two point conversion extending the lead to 8-0.

 

The score would stay at 8-0 until the final moments of the first half when Belhaven got on the board again with their second touchdown of the day. Following a Faulkner (1-4, 0-2) punt, the Blazers took possession of the ball on their own 30 with 5:37 left on the second quarter clock. The drive began with five straight running plays which included gains of 12 yards and two rushes for 13 yards. On second down and nine from the Eagle 33, the Blazers went to their bag of tricks and dialed up a 14 yard pass play from Barry Johnson to Cordario Calvin bringing the ball inside the 20. Three plays later, Williams spotted Calvin open in the end zone for a 17 yard touchdown pass and with the extra point the Blazers expanded the lead to 15-0. It was Calvin's sixth touchdown catch of the 2009 campaign.

 

Belhaven got another chance to put points on the board late in the second quarter thanks to a fumble by Faulkner on the ensuing kickoff, but the Eagle defense held strong and forced the Blazers to punt it away right before halftime. The Eagles ran two plays as time expired in the second quarter and Belhaven maintained their 15-0 edge going into the break.

 

Each team went three and out on their first drives of the second half and after a Belhaven punt, the Blazer defense shutdown the Eagles on three straight plays to get the ball back into the hands of the offense. It didn't take long for Belhaven to find the end zone for the third time in the game. Corder's punt put the ball at the Blazer 21 yard line and on the very next play Williams avoided the blitz and found Bolton in the flats on a swing pass. Bolton did all the rest as he got away from the defenders and into the open field sprinting 79 yards for the touchdown. At that point the Blazers owned a comfortable 22-0 lead with 4:16 to go in the third period.

 

However, Faulkner continued to battle especially on defense where they applied pressure on Williams all game long and made some big plays. The Eagles got some things going on offense on their next drive, but stalled on the Belhaven five and Vince Nix missed a short field goal off the left upright to keep the score 22-0 in favor of the Blazers. The Belhaven offense went three downs and out on their next possession and gave the Eagles great field position after a fake punt try came up three yards short of the first down.

 

Faulkner took over on Belhaven's 27 yard line, but the Blazers did not budge stopping the drive at the 22. However, this time Nix made good on a field goal attempt from 39 yards out cutting the Belhaven lead to 22-3 with 1:55 to play in the third. In the fourth quarter the Blazers had some more trouble in the punting game as Wilson's punt was blocked by Bobby English and recovered by the Eagles at the Belhaven four yard line. Running back DeShawn Edwards took the handoff on the very next play and carried a group of Blazer defenders across the goal line for the score with 11:45 minutes to go in the game. The touchdown by Edwards made it just a two possession game at 22-10.

 

Belhaven was then able to counter the touchdown by the Eagles with a score of their own which was set up by a fumbled punt return by Triston McCathern. McCathern came into the game as one of the top return men in the NAIA. The Blazers got the ball on the Faulkner 18 and on third down and three from the 11, Williams hooked up with Bolton on a touchdown pass for the second time in the game giving the Blazers a 29-10 lead with just over eight minutes showing on the clock. At that point, Belhaven had squelched any momentum that Faulkner had and the final minutes ticked off the clock granting the Blazers the victory.

 

Williams had another good day throwing the football despite facing a relentless pass rush from Faulkner. Williams completed 15 of his 32 passes for 211 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. Williams now has nine touchdown passes on the season and now has two rushing touchdowns as well. Bolton led the team in receiving with four catches for 118 yards and two scores. He also carried the ball nine times for 51 yards. Damien Davis was the game's leading rusher taking the ball 17 times for 87 yards. Calvin finished the day for Belhaven with seven receptions for 69 yards and a score.

 

As a team, Belhaven had 281 yards of total offense with 225 coming through the air. The Blazers rushing totals would have been better if not for the 9 sacks turned in by the Eagles defense resulting in -130 yards rushing for Williams. The Blazers dominated time of possession controlling the ball for 34:47.

 

Faulkner was led on offense by quarterback Trey Martin who completed 12 of his 23 passes for 85 yards with an interception. Other than that, the Eagles couldn't get much else going either on the ground or through the air. Brandon Cheatham was the leading rusher with 8 carries for 31 yards followed by Edwards who had 10 carries for 29 yards and the only Faulkner touchdown. The Eagles were held to 165 yards of total offense on the afternoon.

 

Defensively, Reginald Lumpkin led Belhaven in tackles with seven followed by Tramaine Brock, Melvin Dyson, and Antwon Hamilton with five tackles each. Dyson and Chris Williams each recorded sacks in the game and Hamilton picked off a pass in the fourth quarter for his first interception of the season. Lumpkin leads the team in tackles with 44 and Dyson paces the Blazers in sacks with 4.5 following Saturday's contest.

 

Faulkner's was led on defense by Sean Thom with 17 total tackles including three sacks J.T. Barker finished the game with seven tackles and Anthony Haywood ended the game with six tackles for the Eagles.