Official Stats
Jackson, MS-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.

Shorter got on the board first on their opening possession of the contest. Quarterback Ben Williams completed his only two passes of the game with one coming on a third down an eight play for 15 yards to T.C. Jay to extend the drive. Two plays later, Williams fired a pass to Antwon Appleton who got open out of the back field and went 26 yards for the touchdown. The extra point by David Guliford made it 7-0 in favor of Shorter.

Belhaven's opening drive was stopped and the Blazers were forced to punt, but the Belhaven defense got the ball back when Craig McDonald recovered a Williams's fumble at Shorter's 19 yard line. It only took one play for the Blazer's to find the end zone as quarterback Jerred Wallace tossed a 19 yard touchdown pass to Kevin Dizer to tie the game. It was Dizer's second touchdown of the year and the first of what would be six touchdown passes by Wallace on the afternoon.

The Hawks broke the 7-7 tie at the 7:05 mark of the second quarter thanks to a three play 78 yard drive that was capped off by an A.J. Cooley two yard touchdown run to make it 14-7. Cooley touched the ball on all three plays and had a 68 yard run to set up his own touchdown run.

Belhaven rallied for the tying score late in the second quarter. Following a punt by the Hawks, the Blazers took over on their own 12 yard line with 1:46 on the clock and marched 88 yards on eight plays for the touchdown. Wallace went 7 for 8 on the drive which included a two yard touchdown pass to Cordario Calvin with eight seconds on the clock. It was Calvin's first of three touchdown catches on the day and tied the score at 14-14 at the half.

Belhaven got the ball to begin the third quarter, but Shorter turned the tables on the Blazer offense as Spencer Bragg intercepted a Wallace pass at the 20 yard line and took it into the end zone to give the Hawks a 21-14 lead. Fortunately, the Belhaven offense recovered quickly the next time they touched the ball. Wallace connected with Jarrard Sterling on a 60 yard touchdown pass and just like that the game was tied once again at 21-21 with 13:20 left to go in the third quarter.

Shorter answered on their ensuing possession as Cooley scored for the second time in the game with a one yard touchdown run. Cooley also had carries of 16, 21, and 11 yards leading to the score that put the Hawks on top once again at 28-21. However, the Blazers fought back again with their fourth touchdown of the game to pull within a point of the lead at 28-27. Wallace hooked up with Sterling for the second time on a 14 yard touchdown pass with 8:17 left in the third quarter. The pass capped a six play 75 yard drive that took 2:25 off the clock. The extra point try was no good and the score remained 28-27 in favor of Shorter.

The Hawks struck quickly after a kickoff return by Jordan Hazzard to the Hawks 34 yard line. Cooley took the handoff on the very next play and went 66 yards for the score which recaptured the momentum for Shorter. Guliford converted the extra point extending the Hawks lead to 35-27. Belhaven had to punt on their next possession, but the Blazer defense stopped Shorter's offense forcing them into a punting situation. However, the Hawks got the ball right back as Jamey Rice knocked the ball out of Justin Novak's hands on the return and Shorter came up with the ball at the Blazers 28 yard line. Four plays later, Pierre Toran took it to house for the touchdown and with the extra point the lead expanded to 15 for Shorter at 42-27.

The Blazers got the ball back on the kickoff but didn't have it for long as Wallace was intercepted by Lasiah Hutchins at the Belhaven 23 yard line and he promptly took it the other way for six points. Wallace was looking for Damien Davis out of the backfield, but the ball went through the hands of Davis and Hutchins was right there to grab it before it hit the ground. Belhaven did get a couple of points back when Craig McDonald blocked the extra point attempt and Jonathan Reed ran it back for a defensive two point conversion making the score 48-29.

The Belhaven offense got the ball back and drove 70 yards on three plays to cut the Shorter lead to 48-35. Wallace completed a 17 yard touchdown pass to Calvin from 17 yards out to get the Blazers within two scores of the lead with 59 seconds remaining in the third quarter. However, on the very next drive the Hawks delivered the knockout punch on Cooley's fourth touchdown run of the game from five yards out with 12:03 left in the contest.

Belhaven fought back for one more score as the offense engineered anther nice drive of 10 plays for 62 yards. Wallace completed eight of nine passes with five going in Calvin's direction including and eight yard touchdown pass. It was Calvin's third TD catch and team leading 11th of the year making the score 55-42 Shorter. The Blazer's got the ball back with 1:25 left in the game and tried to mount a final comeback, but Wallace's last pass of the game was picked off by Dion Giles with 20 seconds left. The Hawks were then able to run out the clock and secure the victory.

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.

Calvin was the game's leading receiver hauling in 13 catches for 145 yards and three scores. 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 in Belhaven's final game 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. Melvin Dyson also had a nice game with 10 total tackles including 2.5 for a loss.

Shorter's A.J. Cooley had an outstanding performance on offense for the Hawks as he registered 256 rushing yards on 28 carries with four touchdowns. Antwon Appleton carried the ball 11 times for 98 yards and had a touchdown reception of 26 yards in the game. Quarterback Ben Williams completed two of his six passes for 41 yards and a touchdown. Williams also added 48 rushing yards on 13 carries. Logan Lollis had a big game on defense for Shorter with 11 total tackles which included 3.5 tackles for a loss and 2.5 sacks.

Belhaven will wrap up the regular season on Saturday at home against Union College (KY) in a MSC cross divisional contest. All the action can be heard via Stretch Internet through the Belhaven Athletics website beginning with the pregame show at 1:15 followed by the kickoff at 1:30 PM.