Official Stats
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven football team suffered another tough loss on Saturday afternoon losing to Shorter University 25-24 in a Mid-South Conference West Division matchup at H.T. Newell Field. After falling behind for the first time in the game with 1:53 left in the fourth quarter, the Blazers mounted a last minute drive moving the ball into the field goal range at the Hawk's 14 yard line. Unfortunately, James Bryan's 31 yard field goal attempt went wide right as time expired allowing Shorter to escape with the win.

Belhaven (3-4, 0-3 MSC West) drove the ball down the field on their first possession of the game and appeared to be moving in for a score. However, quarterback Alex Williams' pass was intercepted in the end zone by Desmond Clark and Shorter was able to keep the Blazers off the board. The Blazer defense then stepped up and held the Hawks on three plays and proceeded to block Corey Thacker's punt giving the ball to the offense at the Shorter six yard line. Craig McDonald knifed in for the Blazers and notched his second block kick of the season. Belhaven as a team has blocked five kicks so far in 2010.

Using the great field position, Belhaven powered the ball into the end zone as Williams sneaked it across the goal line from a yard out on fourth down. The extra point by Bryan was good and the Blazers owned a 7-0 lead. A couple of possessions later Shorter (4-3, 2-1 MSC West) took advantage of a 14 yard punt which set them up on the Belhaven 40 yard line. The Hawks tied the score on an eight play drive that was capped off by quarterback Ben Williams's one yard touchdown run making it a new game at 7-7 with 1:08 left in the first quarter.

Belhaven quickly countered on their next possession as they moved the ball methodically down the field going 66 yards on 11 plays for the score. D'Ambro Chatman ran in from 12 yards out to give Belhaven a 14-7 lead. With the exception of Chatman' touchdown, the big play on the drive was a 24 yard pass completion from Williams to Kevin Dizer on a third down and 18 play from the Blazer 26 yard line that kept the drive alive.

Shorter had an answer, but this time it was just a field goal from 35 yards out by David Guilford with 6:11 remaining until halftime. It was another time consuming drive that took 4:47 on 12 plays and 62 yards making the score 14-10. Belhaven struck for another touchdown late in the first half when they got the ball at their own 47 yard line following a 32 yard punt with 1:08 left until the break. Williams completed passes to Kevin Dizer for 21 yards and then found running back Barry Johnson for eight more yards. Johnson followed that up with a 19 yard run that moved the ball to the Shorter five yard line. Williams then tossed a fade to wide receiver Cordario Calvin who made the catch in the end zone with 16 seconds left in the half extending the advantage for the Blazers to 21-10.

Shorter wasn't finished though and brought the ensuing kickoff back to their 48 yard line and then Williams hooked up with T.C. Jay on a 36 yard pass which put the ball at the Belhaven 16 yard line with one second left in the half. Guilford made good on a 33 yard field goal and took a bit of momentum away from the Blazers as the scoreboard read 21-13 Belhaven heading into the locker room.

Both defenses held firm through the third quarter and into the early part of the fourth period when Belhaven broke through with some second half points. The Blazers took possession with 2:38 remaining in the third quarter and ran 14 plays which ate up 60 yards and 6:36 off the clock. The drive ended up stalling on the Shorter 20 yard line leading to a 37 yard field goal by Bryan and a 24-13 lead for the Blazers.

From that point on, Shorter took over the game and answered the field with a touchdown by running back Kenny Foster who scampered in from 45 yards out to make it a 24-19 game after the Hawks missed the two point conversion. The Blazers failed to score on their next two possessions and then the Williams 35 yard touchdown run sealed it for Shorter.

Johnson led the Belhaven offense running the ball 19 times for 122 yards and averaged 6.4 yards per carry. Chatman had 36 yards rushing and a touchdown while Williams and Pettus followed with 18 and 15 yards respectively. As a team Belhaven amassed 399 yards of total offense with 190 of them coming on the ground. The Blazers also led in time of possession 35:28 to 24:32 which is rare especially against a good running team like Shorter.

Williams completed 18 of his 32 pass attempts for 206 yards and a touchdown. He was sacked once and threw a pair of interceptions. Kevin Dizer led Belhaven in receiving making five catches for 101 yards. Cordario Calvin had five receptions for 35 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, Belhaven linebacker Ricky Wadlington made 12 total tackles followed by Craig McDonald with nine and Javian Johnson with eight. Chad Smith ended the game with six tackles and Michael Johnsa along with Jack Hayes chipped in with five. Hayes added another tackle for a loss and has a team high 11 this season. Dewayne Whitten generated the only sack for the Blazers and had three total tackles.

Shorter had 319 yards of total offense with 280 on the ground. The Hawks were second in the NAIA in rushing yards heading into Saturday's game. Quarterback Ben Wiliams took the ball himself 16 times for 108 yards and two touchdowns. Kenny Foster had 82 yards on 10 carries with one touchdown. Shorter also got a pair of field goals from David Guilford to account for the rest of their scoring.

On defense for the Hawks, Garrett Hochstetler and Daniel Hazard both had solid games with 10 tackles each. Desmond Clark and Zach Mann each had interceptions and the Hawks as a team came up with seven tackles for a loss. Hochstetler and Hazard combined on a sack during the game. Eric Stallworth and Spencer Smith each had nine tackles on the afternoon.

Belhaven will hit the road on Saturday when they travel to Union College (KY) for another MSC West division matchup. The kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 EST and all the play-by-play action can be heard via Stretch Internet through the Belhaven Athletics website beginning with the pregame show at 1:15 PM EST.