Jackson, MS-The Belhaven football team will make the long bus trip to Montgomery, WV on Saturday afternoon to take on West Virginia Tech University in a Mid-South Conference cross divisional contest. The Blazers are on the road for the second consecutive week after having played three of their first fourth games at home. Saturday's matchup with the Golden Bears will mark the third overall meeting between the two schools. Belhaven won last year's game 29-27 on a last second field goal by Justin Miller and lead the all-time series 2-0. The Blazers other win over West Virginia Tech was a 39-24 decision during the 2006 season.

 

Belhaven racked up 415 yards of total offense in last year's meeting with the Golden Bears. The Blazers offense put the ball in the air 53 times and tallied 355 passing yards. Belhaven trailed 27-10 going into the fourth quarter, but scored a pair of touchdowns and two field goals to rally for the win.

 

The Blazers enter Saturday's game with an overall record of 3-2 and 3-0 in the MSC Western Division and are coming off a 29-10 victory over Faulkner University last weekend. West Virginia Tech is 2-3 overall and 0-3 in the MSC Eastern Division after falling last week to Union College (KY) 31-0. The Golden Bears two wins came against Johnson C. Smith 49-36 in week one and Olivet Nazarene University 61-38 in week two. West Virginia Tech has lost three in row heading into this weekend's showdown with Belhaven.

 

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.

 

Quarterback Alex 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. Ricardo 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. Cordario Calvin finished the day for Belhaven with seven receptions for 69 yards and a score giving him six touchdowns in 2009. Calvin is fourth in the country in catches per game at 7.8 and fifth in total receptions with 39.

 

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. Overall, Belhaven is averaging 311 yards of total offense so far this season.

 

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.

 

Belhaven will face another spread offense this week that put the ball in the air 28 times last week and will show a number of different unconventional formations and gimmick plays. Defensively, West Virginia Tech will line up in a three man front and will be aggressive with blitzes from a variety of different directions.

 

The Golden Bears are led by Head Coach Scott Tinsley and are trying to rebound from an 0-11 campaign in 2008. West Virginia Tech (2-3) has lost three straight games including their loss to Union last weekend. The Golden Bears couldn't get much going against the Bulldogs compiling just 118 yards of total offense. The defense also struggled to stop Union surrendering 553 yards to the Bulldogs with 417 of those coming through the air.

 

Michael Scott is West Virginia Tech's starting quarterback and was limited to a 9 for 19 afternoon with 71 yards and an interception last weekend. However, Scott is having a solid year completing 100 of his 192 passes for 1,310 yards and 12 touchdowns. He is averaging 262 yards passing per game, but has also thrown six interceptions in 2009. JaJuan Smith is Scott's favorite target having caught 24 passes for 295 yards and four touchdowns. Joey Christian is also a solid receiver for the Golden Bears leading the team with an average of 65 yards receiving per game and 18.1 yards per catch.

 

Jamel Shelton paces the West Virginia Tech ground game with 64 carries for 307 yards on the season. Shelton averages 61.4 yards per game and has two rushing touchdowns this season. Braden Little is also expected to see the ball for the Golden Bears against Belhaven. Little has played in all five games and averages 26.4 yards per contest. Little was West Virginia Tech's leading rusher last week against Union taking the ball eight times for 35 yards.

 

Defensively, the Golden Bears are led by Jonathon Culbertson and Gary Joshway. Culbertson leads the team in total tackles with 45, has two interceptions, and has one sack. Culbertson is sixth in the nation in tackles per game at 11.3. Joshway is tops on the club with three interceptions and returned one for a touchdown. His three interceptions rank him fourth in the NAIA in that category. Joshway is also active on special teams with 14 kick returns for an average of 22.3 yards per return. As a team, the Golden Bears have seven interceptions and six sacks so far this season.