Jackson, MS-The Belhaven football team is making final preparations for their matchup with Mississippi College in Clinton Saturday night. The Blazers held on for a 41-34 win in their home opener last Saturday against Louisiana College. The Wildcats fought back to tie the game at 34-34 late in the fourth quarter after Belhaven had built a 24-7 lead. Belhaven quarterback Alex Williams led an eight play 65 yard drive that ended with an eight yard touchdown pass to Kevin Dizer with 34 seconds to play giving the Blazers a 41-34 win. Thanks to last week's win, Belhaven is off to a 2-0 start to begin the season.

It's week number two of the 2010 campaign for Mississippi College after having defeated Millsaps College in the annual “Backyard Brawl” last weekend 27-23. Like Louisiana College, Mississippi College is a member of NCAA Division III and is a part of the American Southwest Conference. Saturday's game will be the third meeting between the two schools and the first since the 2005 season. The Choctaws won big in 2005 by a final of 52-16 with the contest being delayed to November 17th due to Hurricane Katrina. The only other meeting was in 1999 and Mississippi College was victorious again 38-21. All three games including Saturday have been in Clinton.

BELHAVEN REPORT:
It took some last second heroics on the part of Blazer quarterback Alex Williams and wide receiver Kevin Dizer who hauled in an eight yard touchdown pass with 34 seconds on the clock to finally secure the victory over Louisiana College last week. Belhaven had built a 17-0 lead in the first half only to see the Wildcats fight back in the second half to even the score at 34-34 with 3:27 remaining in the contest. The Blazers then went 65 yards in eight plays with the drive culminating on the game winning touchdown by Dizer. The second half was a track meet as neither defense could stop the opposing offense. Both teams combined to run 147 plays and rack up 885 yards of total offense.

Williams completed 31 of 42 passes for 317 yards and two touchdowns. More importantly, he did not throw any interceptions and for the season and has five touchdown passes and only one interception through the first two games of 2010. Williams not only made it happen with his arm, he also ran for 73 yards and was the Blazers leading rusher on the night averaging 7.3 yards per carry. Williams was also named Mid-South Conference Offensive Player of the Week. Johnson carried the ball 14 times for 52 yards and a touchdown. Johnson caught a team high 10 passes out of the backfield for 79 yards while Kenyon snared four passes for 67 yards. Dizer caught four balls for 55 yards and had the final two touchdowns of the night.

As a team, Belhaven had 449 yards of total offense with 317 coming through the air and 132 on the ground. The Blazers hurt themselves at times with penalties committing 12 in the game for 105 yards. However, Belhaven forced four turnovers including three interceptions and a fumble recovery. The Blazers went five for five in the Red Zone and won the time of possession battle at 32:10.

On defense, Billy Hammer and Marquis Browdy had 13 total tackles while Michael Johnsa recorded 11 tackles in the game. Hammer had the fumble return for a touchdown while Browdy, Johnsa, and McDonald all had interceptions. For his efforts last weekend Hammer was named the MSC Defensive Player of the Week. Jonathan Gamberi tallied a sack and Jack Hayes had a half sack, two tackles for a loss and a couple of pass break ups. Jarrard Sterling and Jerien Cole broke up three passes in the game.

Belhaven will face a Mississippi College team ranked 21st in the latest NCAA Division III Top 25 poll. The Choctaws are similar to Louisiana College in regards to their offense and defensive schemes. Mississippi College will work out of the spread, but will have a strong running game after having amassed 218 rushing yards in last week's win over Millsaps. On defense the Choctaws will line up in a four man front with two linebackers and a linebacker/strong safety to go along with the four other defensive backs.

MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE REPORT:
Mississippi College is led by Head Coach Norman Joseph who is in his sixth season at the helm of the Choctaws. Joseph led Mississippi College to a 9-3 overall record in 2009 and took the team into the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. Joseph is the 17th head coach in the history of the MC football and was Belhaven's very first head coach when the program was started in the 1998 season. In fact, current Blazer Head Coach Joe Thrasher was a player on Joseph's first team in the school's inaugural season. Joseph was at Belhaven from 1997-2000 and during that time produced the only NAIA team to have a 1,000 yard rusher and 1,000 yard receiver in the programs first two years of existence.

The Choctaws generated 422 yards of total offense in last weekend's win at Millsaps College. MC was about as balanced as a team can be with 36 rushing attempts compared to 35 pass attempts in their 27-23 win. Senior running back Steven Knight was their leading ground gainer carrying the ball 16 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 8.2 yards per carry on the night. Junior quarterback Tommy Reyer is also a threat to run having carried the ball 11 times last week for 41 yards. Through the air, Reyer went 24 for 35 for 204 yards and touchdown passes. His favorite target was sophomore wide out Kenderick Johnson who made six catches for 88 yards. Reyer's touchdown strikes went to senior wide receiver Wesley Boudreaux and senior tight end Cody Goss.

On defense, senior defensive back Willie Brown and senior defensive tackle Nolan Willisson led the Choctaws in tackles with six against Millsaps. Willisson had two tackles for a loss and a sack. Junior defensive end Jarryn Bingham had three tackles for a loss and also added a sack in the game. As a team, Mississippi College had three sacks, nine tackles for a loss, and held the Majors to 329 yards of offense with just 93 of them coming on the ground.

All the action of Saturday night's game can be heard via Stretch Internet through the Belhaven Athletics website starting with the pregame show at 5:45 PM followed by the kickoff at 6:00 PM by clicking here. Fans can also follow along with live stats and video provided by Mississippi College and those can be accessed by clicking here.