JACKSON, Miss. – The Belhaven defense held Sul Ross State to just 1-of-7 on red-zone attempts and
Clayton Webb threw two second-quarter touchdowns as Belhaven capped its inaugural season in the NCAA with a 12-6 victory over the Lobos on a wet senior day at H.T. Newell Field.
Belhaven (2-8) allowed an early touchdown to Sul Ross (2-7) falling behind with 5:26 remaining in the first quarter, however the Blazers defense shut down the Lobos for the remainder of the game, large in part to four forced turnovers.
The Blazers defense had three interceptions, one each from
Isaac Nelson,
Martel Myers, and
Isaiah Swopes. The final one, which was caught by Swopes and sealed the win for Belhaven, tied a school record for interceptions in a single season by a player. Swopes finished the year with six interceptions, tying four other players for the record.
Swopes also had a pass breakup in the game, which gave him 12 for the season and tied him for another school record.
For Nelson, it was his fifth interception of the season, finishing one behind Swopes for the team lead.
The three defensive backs that had interceptions in the game also each forced a fumble. Nelson and Swopes both had fumbles forced that stayed with Sul Ross, but Myers' forced fumble late in the fourth quarter was recovered by
Queondre Wynn and nullified good field position for the Lobos.
Belhaven used a pair of touchdowns 3:37 apart late in the first half to tie and then take the lead for good.
Webb first connected with
Shaquan Holmes on an 8-yard touchdown pass to cap off a 9-play, 77-yard drive, which lasted just 2:21 on the clock.
After the defense quickly got the ball back to the Blazers offense, Belhaven responded again with a 10-play, 75-yard drive in just 2:05 that was capped off by an 8-yard pass from Webb to
Nate Williams.
Belhaven was forced to go for two-point conversions on both touchdowns. Earlier in the game, kicker
Alonso Acosta was hurt while attempting to make a tackle on a punt return.
Webb finished the game with 214 yards through the air on 21-for-36 passing. Webb moved over 2,000-yards passing on the season, finishing with 2117 yards.
Tristan Hibbeler came in on one scoring drive to complete 3-of-5 passes for 51 yards.
Williams finished with a team-high six receptions for 68 yards.
Kevin Shief also had 68 yards receiving on five catches, while Holmes finished with five catches for 58 yards.
Alvin Vaughn led the Blazers with 14 tackles in the game. The junior defensive back moved into sixth place all time in Belhaven history with 209 tackles in three seasons, just two shy of Ricky Wadlington (211) for fifth place.
Vaughn has also led the Blazers in tackles each of the last two seasons with 89 in 2014 and 87 in 2015.
Senior
Steven Joiner also moved up the career rankings in his final game. Joiner had five tackles, including two for a loss, which moved him from a tie for fifth to fourth all time in Belhaven history with 27.5 career tackles for a loss.
His two tackles for a loss also gave Joiner the third highest mark in a single season in Belhaven history with 15.5.
In total, the Belhaven Blazers defense had a season high 97 tackles and 13 tackles for a loss in the game.
Sul Ross had possession for nearly two-thirds of the game, totaling 38:13 to just 21:47 for the Blazers. However, the Blazers stood tall, holding the Lobos to just 7-of-20 on third-down conversions and 2-of-8 on fourth-down attempts.
The Lobos received the ball five times to start the drive inside of the Belhaven 35-yard line and the defense held Sul Ross scoreless on each of the drives.
Four of the last five drives for the Lobos ended in forced turnovers by Belhaven. The Blazers also forced fourth down stops on five occasions inside the Belhaven 25-yard line.
With Belhaven's bye week coming in week 11, the Blazers season comes to an end with wins in each of the Green-and-Gold's last two games at home. The Blazers are set to begin the 2016 season at home on Thursday, September 1, 2016 with the seventh edition of the Riverside Rumble against Millsaps College.
