Official Stats
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven football team held on for a 24-21 win over the University of the Cumberlands Saturday afternoon on a great day for football at H.T. Newell Field. It was a much needed victory on senior day for the Blazers who had lost their last four games heading into the weekend. One of those seniors, defensive linemen Baqui Thomas, got a piece of a potential game tying field goal from Patriot place kicker Justin Dyer sending the ball short and wide to the left with two seconds left in the game. The upset win by Belhaven was the first conference win of the season and it was a tough loss for Cumberlands who now finds themselves in a tie for first place in the Mid South Conference West Division with Cumberland who defeated Union 29-18 on Saturday.

Cumberlands (5-3, 3-1 MSC West) didn't waste any time getting on the scoreboard as they took the opening kickoff and needed just three plays from scrimmage to jump out in front 7-0. On a third down and six play from the Patriot 26, Terrance Cobb took a handoff and ran 74 yards for the touchdown to give Cumberlands the lead 1:39 into the first quarter. Belhaven (4-5, 1-4 MSC West) moved the ball well on their opening drive of the game taking the ball down to the Cumberlands six only to be turned away when running back Barry Johnson fumbled and gave it back to the Patriots.

The Belhaven defense then stepped up and shut down the Patriot offense on three plays and forced a punt to give the ball back to the Blazer offense. Belhaven then went on their longest drive of the game which covered 70 yards on 11 plays and ate up 4:53 off the clock. Alex Williams capped the drive when he found wide receiver Harvey Mitchell open for a 10 yard touchdown to tie the score at 7-7.

The Blazers would take the lead late in the second quarter following an interception of Cumberlands quarterback Jay Bright by Donnie Hamilton that put the ball on the Patriot six yard line. Unfortunately, the Blazers failed to get six points as the Cumberlands defense stood their ground and forced a 23 yard field goal by James Bryan giving Belhaven a brief 10-7 lead. It didn't stay that way for long as Brandon Kelley took the ensuing kickoff back 88 yards for a touchdown and all of a sudden the Patriots went back in front 14-10 with 3:28 left in the first half.

The scored remained 14-10 heading into the third quarter witjh Belhaven set to receive ball to begin the second half. The Blazers engineered their second longest drive of the afternoon this time going 60 yards on nine plays for the score. Cumberlands had a crucial 13 yard pass interference penalty on a third and 25 play that gave Belhaven an automatic first down to keep the drive alive. The Blazers took advantage of the miscue as Williams completed his next five passes to put the ball at the Patriot three yard line. Running back Michael Pettus then scored the first of two rushing touchdowns on the day as he barreled it in from three yards out to vault the Blazers back in front 17-14.

Both defenses played tough through the remainder of the third quarter and into the fourth when Cumberlands would eventually strike again to get back on top. The Patriots took over the ball on their own 10 yard line following a punt by Justin Miller with 52 seconds to play in the third quarter. The ensuing possession by Cumberlands was an 11 play 90 yard touchdown drive that culminated in a three yard touchdown run by Cobb that moved the Patriots back ahead 21-17. The Blazers nearly came up with the football on the play before, but Cobb was able to recover his own fumble which kept the drive alive.

Belhaven was forced to punt on their next drive, but Miller came up with another outstanding punt on fourth down that pinned the Patriots at their own six yard line. The Blazer defense forced a three and out and Patriot punter Mitchel Mascaro's boot traveled only 34 yards landing out of bounds at the Cumberlands 48 yard which set the Blazers up in great field position. On the first play of the drive, Michael Pettus had his number called again and broke a pair of tackles on his way to a 48 yard touchdown run that proved to be the game winner.

Cumberlands had one last crack to tie it after the Blazers could not punch it on a fourth and goal from the six yard line with 1:59 left giving the ball back to the Patriots. Cumberlands marched the ball 76 yards to the Belhaven 18 with six seconds to go, but Dyer's 35 yard field goal attempt was partially blocked and essentially ended the game. Safety Craig McDonald also halted a potential Cumberlands scoring drive by picking off a Bright pass at the two yard line with 6:23 to play in the fourth quarter.

Pettus led the Belhaven ground assault carrying the ball 13 times for 70 yards and two touchdowns. Pettus has come on strong in the last few games and now has three touchdowns while averaging 5.8 yards per carry. Williams got back on track throwing the football after a tough game last week completing 29 passes on 46 attempts for 317 yards and a touchdown boosting his touchdown total to 19 in 2010. More importantly he did not throw an interception in Saturday's win which has hurt him the last couple of weeks.

Cordario Calvin was Williams's favorite target as he reeled in 14 passes for 171 yards. Kevin Dizer hauled in four catches for 59 yards while Mitchell caught three balls for 19 yards and a score. As a team, Belhaven had 424 yards of total offense and owned the time of possession battle 35:04 to 24:56. The Blazers were 8 of 18 on third down conversions and two of three on fourth down conversions. Belhaven was three of six in red zone scoring opportunities on Saturday afternoon.

On the defensive side of the ball, linebacker Ricky Wadlington added 10 more tackles to his season total giving him a team high 85 this season. He also 1.5 tackles for a loss and now has 8.5 in 2010. Trevor Butts had nine tackles and two tackles for a loss followed by Chad Smith with six tackles on the afternoon. Safety Craig McDonald had four tackles with 2.5 for a loss and his second interception in 2010. Johnathan Gamberi and Dirkyle Hall combined on a sack while Donnie Hamilton also picked off his second pass of the year.

Cobb had 101 yards rushing and two touchdowns to lead the Patriot offense on Saturday afternoon. Bright completed eight of his 22 pass attempts for 153 yards, but threw a pair of interceptions in the game. Bright had only thrown one pick all season coming into the contest. Tight end Matt Smith caught four of the eight passes for 96 yards while DeKeldric Felton had three receptions for 46 yards. The Patriots had 292 yards of total offense and were just 2 of 12 on third down conversions. Cumberlands was one of two in the red zone on Saturday.

Defensively, Johnathan Yeary had 12 tackles, three tackles for a loss, a forced fumble and a pass breakup to lead Cumberlands. Brenden Kelly made 11 tackles followed by Trevor Warbington who had 10 tackles and 1.5 for a loss.

Belhaven will be back in action next week when they travel to Cumberland University (TN) for another MSC West Division matchup. The kickoff is slated for 12:45 PM.