Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven football team rolled to a 47-3 win in their 2011 season opener Saturday night against Texas College at H.T. Newell Field. The Blazers racked up 356 yards of total offense and the defense held the Steers to just 69 yards of offense.

Junior quarterback Jimmy Basford completed 24 passes for 314 yards with three touchdowns. Kylan Pollard caught four of those passes for 121 yards and one touchdown on the night. Joshua Hawkins paced the team in total receptions hauling in five passes for 46 yards while Rashad Wynes secured four passes for 46 yards. Jesse Gibson, Jr. and Clinton Smith each had just one catch, but made them count taking them to the house for touchdowns.

Ronnie Payne was Belhaven's leading rusher taking four handoffs for 26 yards on the night. Wynes had one carry for 16 yards and a score while Justin Gaines had two touchdowns on the ground on three total carries. As a team, 42 of the offense's total yards came on the ground with 314 being tallied through the air. The Blazers were very productive in the red zone Saturday night going six for six on their chances inside the 20 yard line.

On defense, Craig McDonald shined for the Blazers registering 13 total tackles with one sack and three tackles for a loss. Ricky Wadlington had 10 tackles, two tackles for a loss, and a half sack. Reese Unger made life tough for Texas College quarterback Randall Harper by recording 1.5 sacks and a quarterback hurry. Dewayne Whitten had a half sack and an interception and Justin Mims picked off a third Harper pass on the night. In total, the defense forced five turnovers and held the Steers to 18 passing yards.

Devin Lee was the leading ground gainer for Texas College gaining 51 yards on eight carries. Harper completed only seven passes for 18 yards while being sacked four times on the night. Marcus Brown had 10 tackles for the Steers on defense including two fumble recoveries and 1.5 sacks.

Belhaven (1-0) struggled to find the offense in the first half and as it would turn out the defense would put the first points on the board in the 2011 season. Belhaven punter Robby Robinson pinned the Texas College (1-0) offense on their own three yard line thanks to a 69 yard punt leading to the first points of the game. On the very next play, running back Devin Lee was caught in the backfield by linebacker Ricky Wadlington and thrown down in the end zone for a safety to make it a 2-0 game with 11:37 to go in the first quarter.

Belhaven added a touchdown early in the second quarter as Basford engineered a six play 77 yard drive that resulted in a Gaines rushing touchdown pushing the edge to 9-0 with the extra point. The big play on the drive was a 46 yard pass to Wynes setting the Blazers up at the Steer 31 yard line. Basford completed three more consecutive passes with the third being to Jameel Jackson who caught the ball in the flats from his fullback position and muscled it down to the one setting up the score. The final score of the half was a 49 yard field goal off the foot of James Bryan that made it a 12-0 game at the break.

Belhaven came out of the locker room and took control of the contest in the third quarter finding the end zone three times in the period. The first touchdown was a 16 yard run by Wynes with 9:40 on the third quarter clock followed by a second TD just under two minutes later when Basford found Pollard wide open for a 74 yard touchdown pass and catch extending the lead to 26-3. The final score of the third quarter was a rushing touchdown by Gaines with 2:38 remaining on the clock.

Belhaven tacked on two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter on two more touchdown passes from Basford with one going to Gibson and the other settling into the hands of Smith. The Steers only points of the game came in the third quarter on a 36 yard field goal by Houston Creighton.

Saturday's game showed signs that it was the opener for both teams with 23 combined penalties. Belhaven was 5 of 16 on third down conversions and two of two on four down tries. One of those fourth down conversions was a fake punt run by Robby Robinson that kept a drive alive to setup Bryan's field goal. The Steers were just 1 of 14 on third down and 0-4 on fourth down.

“I thought we did some things well tonight and that we played much better in the second half,” said Belhaven Head Coach Joe Thrasher. “There are some things that we will have to improve on heading into next week's game at Louisiana College, but it was great to get a win in the season opener. I thought Jimmy (Basford) did an outstanding job tonight and was able to make some great plays despite facing pressure from the Steers defense. Craig McDonald turned in a great game at cornerback and Ricky Wadlington picked up right where he left off last season anchoring the middle of our defense.”

Belhaven will be back in action at NCAA Division III Louisiana College next week beginning at 7:00 PM. The Blazers will return home to battle Mississippi College on September 10th for a 7:00 PM start. Fans can catch all the play-by-play action of next week's game by turning in to 87.7 FM WJMF radio in the Jackson, MS area or online at blazers.belhaven.edu.