Jackson, MS-The Belhaven football team will kickoff the 2009 regular season Thursday night beginning at 7:00 PM at H.T. Newell field against the University of West Alabama. It will be the fifth meeting between the two schools.
The series record is tied 2-2, but the Tigers have won the last two decisions including a 49-12 victory over the Blazers last season. Prior to their 2008 victory, the Tiger upended Belhaven 41-14 in 2002. The Blazers picked up their two victories over West Alabama with a 16-6 win in 1999 and a 21-0 shutout of the Tigers in 2001.
THE WEST ALABAMA REPORT:
West Alabama is an NCAA Division II member and is part of the Gulf South conference, which is one of the best DII football conferences in the country. Bobby Wallace is entering his fourth season as the Head Football coach at UWA. Prior to arriving in Livingston, Wallace was the Head Coach at Temple University. Other stops along the way for Wallace include a head coaching stint at the University of North Alabama and as a defensive backs coach at Mississippi State.
The Tigers are coming off a 4-7 campaign in 2008, but had some close loses to strong opponents. West Alabama fell just short against perennial power Delta State 21-14, but had a chance to pull out a victory late in the game. The Statesmen were ranked 7th in the country at the time. UWA was picked eighth in the pre-season GSC coaches poll and had three players selected for the All-GSC Pre-Season team which include wide receiver/kick returner Terry Allen along with Jonathan Weinreich and Jason Hawkins.
Allen led the 2008 Tigers in receiving with 451 yards, Hawkins caught 17 passes for 123 yards at the tight end position, and Weinreich is penciled in at the guard position after spending time as a guard and tackle last season. Junior quarterback Deon Williams returns for the Tigers after having only played in three games due to injury. Williams started the season opener against Belhaven last year and completed 15 of his 22 pass attempts for 271 yards and four touchdowns.
The Blazers will also have to keep an eye on senior running back Dameon Baylor who averaged 66.4 yards per game and took it to the house nine times for UWA last season. Baylor carried the ball 11 times for 108 yards against Belhaven a year ago, had one touchdown, and averaged just under 10 yards per carry.
On the defensive side of the ball the University of Alabama will show a base 4-3 defense. There will be a few new faces on the defensive side of the ball, but the Tigers have three key defenders back for the 2009 campaign. Senior defensive end Jeremy May led the team with 6.5 sacks and recorded 57 total tackles last year. Next to him will be junior defensive tackle Curtis Dawson who made 28 tackles last season. In the secondary J.D. Douglas returns for his senior year after picking off three passes and notching 54 tackles from his strong safety position a year ago.
On special teams the Blazers can expect to see a lot of Allen who averaged 17.8 yards per kick return in 2008.
THE BELHAVEN REPORT:
Tonight's game with West Alabama marks the official beginning of a new era for the Belhaven College football program as Joe Thrasher takes the reins as the Blazers new Head Coach. Thrasher inherits a Belhaven team that went just 2-9 overall and 1-4 in the Mid-South Conference in 2008. Belhaven struggled to stop opposing offenses allowing an average of 37 points per game. The offense couldn't seem to find a rhythm in 2008 and were unable to match their opponents offensive output.
The Blazers have been accustomed to being near the top of the NAIA in passing offense, but dropped to 15th in the nation in 2008 after having been ranked 2nd in the NAIA in 2007.The good news is that the Blazers will bring back a solid core of talented players for the 2009 season. Senior running back Ricardo Bolton will anchor the ground game and be called upon to carry even more of the offensive load in 2009. Bolton carried the ball 118 times for 526 yards and seven touchdowns. He was also the team's second leading receiver in total receptions with 43 and came up with three touchdown catches. Bolton averaged 4.5 yards per carry, 10.7 yards per catch, and paced the team in scoring with 62 total points and 10 touchdowns.
Belhaven also welcomes back senior wide receiver
Shaun Ector and junior wide out
Barry Johnson. The Blazers look for them to step up and fill the void left by Embry. Ector hauled in 35 receptions for 580 yards and five touchdowns while averaging 16.6 yards per catch. Ector was also tops on the team in receiving at 82.9 yards per contest. Johnson caught 31 passes for 363 yards and three scores and had an11.7 yards per catch average in 2008.
Belhaven hopes to turn around a defense this season that had trouble slowing down opposing offenses in 2008. The Blazers surrendered an average of 410.5 yards per game in total offense last season while giving up 6.1 yards per play. Coach
Danny White will take over the duties of Defensive Coordinator for the upcoming season.
White will have the luxury of leading a defense that is returning 10 starters including All-MSC linebacker
Reginald Lumpkin and MSC Honorable Mention defensive lineman
Melvin Dyson. Belhaven will draw upon their senior leadership in 2009 as eight of their ten returners will be seniors, which include Lumpkin and Dyson.
Lumpkin led Belhaven in total tackles last year with 97 including 14 for a loss, and had 3.5 sacks. Dyson recorded 48 total tackles with 10.5 for a loss and seven sacks. Dyson's seven sacks were second best on the team behind only
Eric Ortiz who had 8.5. As a team, the Blazers were ninth in the NAIA a year ago with an average of 3.1 sacks per game.
In the defensive backfield
Cameron Achord will be back in a Blazer uniform in 2009 after coming up with three interceptions and 54 tackles last year. Johnathan Reed will be alongside Achord after notching a team high four interceptions in 2008. Junior college transfers Chaddwick Smith (DL) and
Harvey Brown (LB) will also be in the mix for the Blazers adding more depth to an already impressive defense.
Tonight's game is big for the Blazers in order to set the tone for the season and to give the team an early confidence boost. All the play-by-play action of Thursday's game can be heard via Stretch Internet through the Belhaven Athletics website. The pregame show can be heard at 6:45 followed by the kickoff at 7:00. The live audio and a live stats link can be accessed by clicking
here.
