Official Stats
Jackson, TN-The Belhaven football team lost for the first time in Mid-South Conference Western Division play Saturday afternoon at 5th ranked Lambuth University 54-16. The Blazers were able to stay with the Eagles early down by just 12 points at 28-16 at halftime. However, Lambuth exploded for four unanswered touchdowns in the second half to pull away for the victory.

Lambuth (9-0, 5-0 MSC West) got on the board first thanks to a one yard touchdown run by Ben Stallings to put the Eagles on top 7-0 with just over nine minutes to go in the first quarter. Lambuth then set up their second score of the game on an interception by Jamie Payton who returned it to the Blazers three yard line. Belhaven's (5-4, 4-1 MSC West) Jerred Wallace was looking for Cordario Calvin on the play, but Payton broke up the pass and made the interception. Two plays later, Lambuth called B.A. Davis's number from the one yard line and he took it in standing up making the score 14-0 Lambuth.

The Blazers cut Lambuth's lead in half on a fumble return for a touchdown by Johnathan Reed. Kelvin Martin, who was in running the Eagles “Wildcat” offense, carried the ball around the left side and was stripped of the ball by Reed. Reed picked up the loose change at the Eagles 35 and stayed in bounds down the right sideline all the way to the end zone. Justin Miller added the extra point to make it a 14-7 Lambuth lead with four minutes left in the first quarter.

Belhaven trimmed the lead to four early in the second quarter on Miller's fourth field goal of the year from 35 yards out. The Blazer defense came up with another big play when DeMorrius Jones broke up an Adam Wiese pass and Reginald Lumpkin picked off the deflected pass returning it to the Eagles 18 yard line. At that point, the Blazers were right back in the game at 14-10.

However, Lambuth regrouped on their next possession and engineered a 16 play 79 yard drive which was capped off on a Wiese 11 yard touchdown pass to Brandon Okechukwu on fourth down. The extra point was good pushing the Eagle advantage out to 21-10. Lambuth appeared to have seized complete momentum in the game late in the second quarter on a six yard touchdown run by D'Nico Best. With just under a minute to play in the half, Lambuth owned a 28-10 lead.

However, the Blazers had an answer on offense after Ricardo Bolton returned the ensuing kickoff to the Belhaven 29 yard line. On second and ten, Bolton got behind the Eagles prevent defense and Wallace found him for the score on a 71 yard touchdown pass with 26 seconds left in the half. It was Bolton's seventh touchdown catch of the season. Belhaven went for two and failed, but the Blazers were within two scores of the Eagles at 28-16. Lambuth tried to answer getting the ball down to the Blazers 14 yard with seven seconds to play in the second quarter. With no time outs left, the Eagles elected to run another play instead of kicking the field goal and it proved to be costly as Wiese slipped on the muddy turf and fell to the ground as time expired in the first half.

The Blazer defense came out in the second half and made a big stand to start the third quarter stopping Lambuth on downs at midfield. Following a dead ball personal foul penalty on Belhaven, the ball was placed at the Blazer 35 to begin the drive. The Belhaven offense stalled on the Eagles 41 forcing a punt. Punter Michael Wilson pinned Lambuth deep on their two yard line and eventually the Eagles were faced with a third an eight from the four. In what was arguably the turning point in the game, Wiese scrambled out of trouble and completed a pass on the run to Donovan Maxwell for 41 yards extending the drive. The drive culminated on a six yard touchdown run by Victor Robinson after the Blazers jumped offside's on a field goal attempt on the previous play granting the Eagles a first down which led to six points.

With the score 34-16 after the missed extra point, Lambuth kicked it into another gear with three more scores to put the game away. The Eagles intercepted another Wallace pass and Wiese made it hurt with a TD pass to Earnest Adams. Later in the third quarter, Wiese tossed his third touchdown of the game when he hooked up with Rodrick Jefferson to make it 47-16. James Cole capped off the scoring for Lambuth with 7:48 to play in the game on a 16 yard touchdown run making it 54-16.

Belhaven was held in check on offense by a very stingy Lambuth defense who had only given up 10 touchdowns coming into the game. Ryan Rice led the Blazers in rushing but could only muster 14 yards on four carries. Wallace completed 19 of his 38 pass attempts for 218 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions. Cordario Calvin had six catches for 43 yards, Kevin Dizer reeled in five passes for 66 yards, and Bolton made two catches for 75 yards and a touchdown. As a team, Belhaven had 247 yards of total offense, but had just 19 net yards of rushing as a team.

Defensively, Reginald Lumpkin, Cameron Achord, and Melvin Dyson led the Blazers with 10 total tackles each. Lumpkin also came up with an interception and Reed had the fumble recovery and return for a touchdown. Lumpkin now has 90 tackles to lead the Blazer defense in 2009. Melvin Dyson and Johnathan Gamberi both recorded sacks in Saturday afternoon's game.

Lambuth was led on offense by Robinson who carried the ball 20 times for 101 yards and a touchdown. Ben Stallings had 64 yards rushing on 10 attempts prior to leaving the game in the second quarter due to an injury. Wiese completed 15 of 23 passes for 260 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception. Rodrick Jefferson made four catches for 114 yards and a TD to pace the Eagle receivers. Lambuth compiled 549 yards of total offense and converted 28 first downs. Stephen Moten and Victor Pena had six tackles apiece to lead the Lambuth defense.

Belhaven will return to action on Saturday in their annual homecoming game against Shorter Colege at H.T. Newell Field. All the play-by-play action can be heard on Stretch internet via the Belhaven Athletics Website starting with the pregame show at 1:15 followed by the kickoff at 1:30 PM.