JACKSON, Miss. - The Belhaven University football team completed its second season in 2016 as members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III, the American Southwest Conference (ASC) and the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA).

Playing one of the toughest schedules in all of NCAA Division III, the Blazers finished with a 2-8 overall record and a 1-6 mark in ASC play. Five of the team's 10 games were played against schools ranked in the top 20 of the country, including No. 2 Wisconsin-Whitewater and 2016 National Champions Mary Hardin-Baylor.

Belhaven opened the season on Sept. 1 at Millsaps College, overcoming a 17-7 halftime deficit to defeat their local rival 28-25. The win snapped a three-game losing streak to the Majors and gave the Blazers a 4-3 edge in the series history.

Senior wide receiver LaMiquell Roberts established a new Belhaven single game receiving yards record and tied the program record for receptions in the win, hauling in 220 yards on 14 catches. Roberts earned NCCAA Student-Athlete of the Week honors for his performance.

The Blazers then traveled to Wisconsin to take on No. 2 Wisconsin-Whitewater, who has won six of the past 12 Division III National Championship games. The Green and Gold hung with the Warhawks early, trailing by just four points heading into the second half. But UWW blanked the Blazers offense in the second half and Belhaven moved to 1-1 on the season.

The following week, Belhaven hit the road once again, dropping a 65-21 decision to No. 19 Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Ala.

After a bye week, the Blazers played its first game inside the brand-new Belhaven Bowl Stadium on Oct. 1. Located in the heart of the Belhaven University campus, the historic Belhaven Bowl underwent a $4 million transformation, including installation of a custom turf playing surface, comfortable chair back seating for 1200 and a state of-the-art Daktronics video board.

Playing against No. 17 East Texas Baptist in front of a crowd of more than 1,500, the Blazers nearly pulled off a big upset, outscoring the Tigers 30-28 in the second half. But the Blazers would ultimately fall to ETBU, 60-47.

Freshman quarterback Hunter McEachern and senior defensive back Isaac Nelson earned NCCAA Offensive and Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week honors, respectively, for their performances against ETBU. McEachern passed for 466 passing yards and five touchdowns while recording zero interceptions. Nelson paced the Belhaven defense with a season-high 11 tackles, including seven solo and one for a loss.

In week six, Belhaven traveled to Alpine Texas to take on ASC foe Sul Ross State. Despite recording a season-high 620 total yards of offense (just two yards short of tying the program record), the Blazers dropped a 52-36 decision to the Lobos.

Roberts picked up his second NCCAA Student-Athlete of the Week honor, recording 10 receptions, two touchdowns and 165 receiving yards versus the Lobos.

After a week seven loss at home to McMurry and a week eight defeat to Louisiana College on the road, the Blazers faced two straight NCAA Division III Top 10 opponents in Hardin-Simmons and Mary Hardin-Baylor.

The Green and Gold outscored Hardin-Simmons, ranked No. 10 at the time, 14-10 in the second half, but were unable to overcome a strong first half by the nationally ranked Cowboys.

McEachern set a single game program record for completions against Hardin-Simmons, completing 48 passes while throwing for 425 yards.

In their 2016 home finale versus No. 3 Mary Hardin-Baylor, the Blazers found the end zone on the first drive of the game, marching 77 yards down the field in 13 plays. But Belhaven was unable to score again until the fourth quarter, leaving the door open for the eventual national champions to keep their undefeated season alive.

The Blazers played their final game of the 2016 season on Nov. 12 in Brownwood, Texas, scoring a season-high 50 points en route to a five-point victory over Howard Payne. With the Yellow Jackets driving down the field with just over two minutes remaining, Belhaven's Latevinan Glass came up with a clutch interception to secure the win for the Blazers.

McEachern tied a program record with six passing touchdown while senior wide receiver Darien Thomas set a new program record with four receiving touchdowns. Thomas added 115 receiving yards and was awarded NCCAA Student-Athlete of the Week for his efforts.

The Blazers finished the 2016 season with team program records in passing attempts (701) and passing touchdowns (34), and were just three completions shy and seven passing yards short of the school records in those categories.

Belhaven led the ASC in total passing yards (4,214) and passing yards per game (421.4) while ranking second in total yards of offense per game (499.0).

Eleven members of the Belhaven football team earned 2016 All-NCCAA distinction, with Roberts earning First-Team honors, Nate Williams, Trey Tolliver and Alvin McCaskey picking up Second-Team recognition, and McEachern, Thomas, Blaze Diaz, Alonso Acosta, Sean Tierney, Alvin Vaughn and Keith Marshall receiving Honorable Mention honors.

To view complete stats for the 2016 Belhaven football team, click here.

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