Jackson, MS-The Belhaven football team will host the Union College (KY) Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon in the 2009 season finale at H.T. Newell Field. The Blazer seniors will also be recognized prior to kickoff as part of Senior Day festivities. The all time series between Union and Belhaven is tied at 4-4, but the Bulldogs have won four of the last five meetings including a 36-7 decision last year.

Union came out of the gate strong in 2008 and led throughout the entire game. The Bulldogs owned a 36-0 lead until Andrew Carcich found Anthony Embry on an eight yard touchdown pass with just over seven minutes to play to get Belhaven on the board. Carcich, who is now a member of the Blazer coaching staff, led the Belhaven offense completing 17 of his 27 pass attempts for 187 yards and a touchdown. He also carried the ball eight times for 43 yards. Union quarterback Mike Brinkley, who Belhaven will see today, had 217 yards passing and a pair of touchdown completions in last year's contest. On defense, Reggie Lumpkin led Belhaven with 14 total tackles.

Belhaven enters this weekend's game with an overall record of 5-5 while Union owns a 4-5 overall record. The Blazers are looking for their first winning season since 2006 when they won their final six games to end the season at 6-5. Belhaven has lost their last two games including a 55-42 setback last weekend against Shorter College. The Bulldogs have also lost their last two games which includes a 31-29 loss at Campbellsville a week ago. Union had a chance to tie the game on a two point conversion with 1:08 to play following a touchdown pass by Brinkley, but could not punch it in.

THE BELHAVEN REPORT:
The Belhaven offense racked up 496 yards of total offense, but could not overcome Shorter College on Saturday afternoon at H.T. Newell Field in a 55-42 Mid-South Conference Western Division loss to the Hawks. Shorter also had a big day on offense with 468 total yards which included 427 yards rushing. Both teams matched each other score for score, but key turnovers in the second half proved to be costly for Belhaven. Shorter returned two interceptions for touchdowns and recovered a fumbled punt which led to another score helping the Hawks to pull away from the Blazers in the second half.

Belhaven was led on offense by quarterback Jerred Wallace who completed 34 of 51 passes for 414 yards and six touchdowns. Wallace set a new personal record for touchdown passes in a game breaking his previous mark of five which was set against Faulkner University on October 4th of last season. He now has 12 touchdown passes in 2009 after Saturday's performance.

Cordario Calvin was the game's leading receiver hauling in 13 catches for 145 yards and three scores. Calvin is fourth in the NAIA in total receptions at 76 and has a team high 11 touchdown catches. Shaun Ector had a big game with eight receptions for 78 yards followed by Ricardo Bolton with 63 yards, Kevin Dizer had 50 yards and a TD, and Sterling tallied 74 yards and two touchdowns. Bolton paced the Blazers in rushing with 31 yards on nine carries and had 114 all purpose yards. As a team, Belhaven had 496 yards of total offense with 426 of those yards coming through the air.

Defensively, Reggie Lumpkin led Belhaven with 12 total tackles and is now tied for the top spot with Brandon Beasley on the Belhaven All-Time Career tackles list with 283. Lumpkin needs only one tackle against Union to break the record which was established by Beasley over the course of the 2001-04 seasons. Lumpkin has a team leading 102 tackles this season and needs just five tackles to set a new single season record for most tackles. Cedric Killings established the current record with 106 during the 1999 season. Lumpkin ranks ninth in the country in tackles per game with 10.2.

Belhaven will face a Union team that has suffered a couple of tough losses over the last couple of weeks. The Bulldog defense has been tough against the pass in 2009 allowing just under 159 yards per game to opponents this year which ranks them 10th in the NAIA. Union is averaging 30 points per game on offense and racks up 373 yards of total offense per afternoon. The Belhaven defense will have to be ready for a pro style offense as well as a number of spread formations from a Union offense that will look to throw the football. The Blazer offense will face another odd man front from the Bulldog defense. Union runs a 3-3-5 and has 13 sacks so far in 2009.

THE UNION REPORT:
The Bulldogs are led by Head Coach Tommy Reid who is in his ninth season as head coach and in his 14th overall season with the program. Reid has an overall record of 35-55 and led the Bulldogs to a 9-3 record and an appearance in the NAIA playoffs last season.

Quarterback Mike Brinkley leads the Union offense with 21 touchdown passes and averages 221.2 yards per passing per game. Brinkley has completed 54.9 percent of his pass attempts and has an efficiency rating of 139.2. Brinkley had 147 yards and a touchdown through the air last week against Campbellsville. Demetrius Davis and P.J. Burrowes are Brinkley's top two targets with averages of 54.8 and 50.9 yards a game respectively. Burrowes has caught a team high seven touchdowns passes while Davis has hauled in five TD receptions. Davis had five catches and 56 yards last week. The Union ground attack is led by Antonio Drane who averages 41.4 yards per game. Brinkley is also a threat to run with the football and is one of the top scrambling quarterbacks in the conference.

On defense, linebacker William Roundtree and free safety Jacob Crothers are Union's leading tacklers with 46 and 45 respectively. Roundtree also has 6.5 tackles for a loss and 2.5 sacks to go along with two interceptions. He had nine tackles for the Bulldogs in their loss to Campbellsville. Crothers has two tackles for a loss and an interception in 2009. The Blazer offense will also have to be wary of cornerback Bert Brown who has a team high three interceptions. As a team, the Bulldogs have picked off 13 passes this year.

All the live play-by-play action of Saturday's game can be heard via Stretch Internet through the Belhaven Athletics website. The pregame show begins at 1:15 PM followed by the kickoff at 1:30 PM. A link to the broadcast page can be accessed by clicking here.