Game recaps and notes from around the South Atlantic Conference:

CARSON-NEWMAN – The No. 6 Carson-Newman Eagles were idle last week. They return to action on Thursday, September 15 as they host West Virginia Tech in Sevierville, Tennessee. The game will be shown live on CSS at 7 p.m.

CATAWBA - The Tribe fell behind 13-0 at Virginia State on Saturday, but rallied for a 37-18 win … The 13th-ranked Indians scored 24 points in the final 7:09 of the second quarter to lead 24-13 at the break ... Sophomore tailback Kory Fisher ignited the comeback with a 66-yard scoring run with 4:35 before the half ... Fisher would run for a career-best 192 yards on 31 carries ... It marked the sixth best rushing performance in school history ... After the first Fisher score, Thomas Pressley intercepted a pass and returned it inside the Trojan five … That led to the first of two Brad Roach touchdown passes to Rod Tenor … The first came at the 3:12 mark, while the second was with just 10 seconds left in the half after an interception by Charles Morman ... VSU trimmed the deficit to 24-18 in the third quarter before Catawba kicked a field goal for a 27-18 lead … An interception by Brandon McIntyre led to an 11-yard Fisher score early in the fourth quarter for a 34-18 edge … Roach completed 15-of-29 passes for 123 yards and two scores … Fisher was the top target with four catches … On defense, the Indians limited VSU to just 122 yards and caused four turnovers … Virginia State ran for 88 yards and passes for 34 … Darryl Locklear was in on a pair of the Tribe’s four sacks on the day … Matt Sheets blocked a pair of fourth quarter Trojan punts … Fisher increased his season average to 122 yards per game with his outburst on Saturday and has put together consecutive 100-yard efforts … Roach did throw three interceptions, but is still completing nearly 65 percent of his passing attempts with five touchdowns … Catawba will host Indiana University of Pennsylvania on Saturday at 1:30 in its final tune-up before conference play … The series is tied a 1-1 and marks the first time IUP has invaded Shuford Stadium.

LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne College Football Team lost its first game of the season Saturday, a 28-21 overtime thriller to North Carolina Central … The Bears and Eagle were meeting for the first time ever … A crowd of 8,561 saw the contest, the largest crowd at Moretz Stadium since 1986 … Lenoir-Rhyne fell to 1-1 on the season while N.C. Central remained undefeated at 3-0 … Turnovers was the story of the contest as the Bears committed four compared to the Eagles’ one … Three first-half turnovers by Lenoir-Rhyne led to 14 NCCU points as the Eagles held a 21-7 advantage at halftime … In the second quarter, NCCU’s Derrick Ray return an interception 12 yards for a touchdown and Greg Pruitt, who scored the game-winning touchdown in overtime and finished with two rushing scores, ran the ball in from 15 yards out right after the Eagles’ defense forced Lenoir-Rhyne senior quarterback Kurtis Koester into a fumble … Lenoir-Rhyne took control in the second half, out-gaining N.C. Central by a 234-75 in total yards and scoring touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters to force the game to overtime … However, after Pruitt’s nine-yard rushing score gave the Eagles a 28-21 advantage, Koester was stripped of the ball again from behind by NCCU’s Ronald Dowdy and the Eagles held on for the win … Koester finished with 194 yards passing and two scores while sophomore wideout Barry Tate finished with a career-high 105 yards receiving and a touchdown reception … On defense, the Bears sacked NCCU quarterback Adrian Warren four times and junior defensive lineman Benjamin McDowell led all tacklers with a career-high 12 including four from behind the line of scrimmage … Junior running back Andrew Tudor led the ground game with 80 yards on 23 carries but left the game in third quarter with an injury … Senior wideout Christopher Winford, with a touchdown reception against N.C. Central, now has thrown or scored 13 touchdowns in his last 14 games … Koester is now in seventh place all-time on Lenoir-Rhyne career completion list with 175 while Winford moved into eighth-place on the Bears’ career list for punt return yards with 372 … Lenoir-Rhyne travels to Davidson, N.C., to take on Davidson College next Saturday night at 7 p.m. … L-R leads the all-time series, 6-5-1, and will be playing at Davidson for the first time since 1986.

MARS HILL - The Lions lost their home opener Saturday afternoon at Meares Stadium to the visiting Falcons of St. Augustine’s College, 13-6 ... MHC fell to 0-2 on the season while St. Augustine’s improved to 3-0 on the year … MHC scored the first points in the contest after Brandon Sims hit Jarvis Mathis on a 21-yard touchdown pass on third-and-11 with 4:52 left in the first half ... Craig Williams’ PAT kick was blocked and the Lions led 6-0 … The teams took that score into the locker room at the intermission … At the 1:47 mark in the third quarter, St. Augustine’s was forced to punt from the MHC 33-yard line … The punt inadvertently hit a Lion player and the Falcons recovered the ball on the Lions 12 yard line … After a Mars Hill penalty for defensive holding and a 12-yard sack on the next play, Darrell Nesbit found Andre McGlone in the end zone on an 18-yard scoring strike with 16 ticks left in the third frame … Arthur Lemon’s PAT kick was successful and the Falcons led 7-6 .. That score would later prove to be the game winner … MHC drove down to the Falcon 20-yard line where Williams attempted a 37-yard field goal to put MHC back in the lead with 6:45 left in regulation … The kick was blocked by Fritz Charles and St. Augustine’s took over possession of the ball at their own 47 yard line after MHC was tagged with a personal foul penalty … St. Augustine’s then drove 53 yards on eight plays to add an insurance touchdown when Nesbit capped off the drive with a six-yard scoring rush. Lemon’s PAT kick was blocked and MHC had one more chance to tie or win … Antione Jones ran the ensuing kickoff back to the St. Augustine’s 46 yard line and MHC had just over two minutes left in the game to make a comeback … Unfortunately, Myron Miller spoiled the Lions plans when he picked off MHC’s quarterback at the Falcon nine yard line … With no timeouts left St. Augustine’s ran out the clock and left Mars Hill with the seven-point victory … Neither team was impressive offensively. MHC recorded 149 yards of total offense while the Falcons tallied 138 … Each squad’s defense played extremely well against the rush … MHC managed only 42 yards on the ground while St. Augustine’s rushed for only 68 yards in the contest … Jeremy Stewart led MHC with 10 tackles, five solo, two tackles-for-loss, a pair of sacks and a blocked PAT kick … Nathaniel Smith and Ryan Howell posted six tackles apiece … Demario Zachery caught three passes for 63 yards … One bright spot for the Lions was Chris Cromer who handles the punting duties … He punted nine times for a 40.6 yard average and put five of those punts inside the Falcons 20 yard line … Three of those five punts were either downed or went out of bounds inside the Falcons five yard line ... Ryan Douglas made great plays downing two of the punts inside the five yard line … MHC will host The University of the Cumberlands next Saturday night. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.

NEWBERRY - Newberry College outscored Morehead State 20-7 in the second half, but could not overcome three first-half turnovers as the Indians fell 35-33 on the road in NCAA football action Saturday night. Newberry (1-1) put together a fantastic comeback and had 1:16 to cover 64 yards, but the Morehead State (2-0) defense buckled down, forcing five incomplete passes and sacking Newberry quarterback Josh Stepp on the Indians’ last gasp on 4th-and-10 ... The Indians drove the field after the second-half kickoff, culminating with an Alex Haynes 20-yard touchdown to close the gap to 28-19. MSU responded with its own score to go up 35-19. Newberry linebacker Charlton Grant picked up a Morehead State fumble which started another touchdown drive. Stepp found Tymere Zimmerman for a 12-yard touchdown, followed by the two-point conversion to close to 35-27. On the ensuing Newberry drive, Stepp split the gap for a 14-yard touchdown rush of his own, but the two-point conversion was thwarted, making the score 35-33 in Morehead State’s favor ... Things started well enough for the Indians, taking the opening drive all the way into the Eagle endzone for a 7-0 lead on the first Stepp-to-Zimmerman scoring play. Morehead responded with passing touchdowns by Brian Yost on its next two drives, and then capitalized on Haynes’ fumble for a 21-7 lead off Charles Stockleman’s halfback pass. On Newberry’s next offensive play, Stepp threw an interception and the Eagles’ Eli Parker scored off the turnover, going up 28-7 in the second quarter ... Newberry drew to within 28-13 after Stepp threw a 24-yard strike to Joe Don Reames (Seneca, S.C.) for his first score as an Indian. The blocked PAT attempt forced Newberry to go for two following the remainder of its touchdowns ... Newberry outgained Morehead State in total yardage (441 to 327), time of possession (33:45 to 26:15), and first downs (23 to 16), but lost the turnover battle--giving up three and gaining one--and with it, the game ... Stepp produced 340 yards of total offense, 228 through the air on 20 of 39 completed passes, three of them touchdowns. He rushed for 112 yards and a score. Haynes rushed 17 times for 118 yards and a touchdown, marking the first time that two Newberry backs have rushed for over 100 yards in the same game since the 2004 season opener ... Zimmerman caught seven passes for 82 yards and two touchdowns, leaving him one reception short of tying Newberry’s all-time record set by Kendal Brown in 2003 (146 rec.). Reames had six catches for 48 yards and a score ... Defensively, the Indians were paced by All-SAC linebacker Terrance Leverett (Ware Shoals, S.C.), who recorded nine tackles and a forced fumble. Inside linebacker Mike Grase (Rock Hill, S.C.) also forced a fumble, and made three tackles ... Newberry is idle next weekend, and begins preparing for the conference opener against Lenoir-Rhyne on September 24.

PRESBYTERIAN - Presbyterian College scored on their first possession and never looked back in handing Charleston Southern a 42-0 defeat in the Buccaneers 2005 home opener. PC improved to 3-0 with the victory while the Buccaneers dropped to 0-2 in losing to the Blue Hose for the 12th consecutive time. PC rolled up 374 total yards while limiting CSU to only 263 total yards ... PC senior quarterback Zack Ellis completed 17-of-28 passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns versus the Bucs. In his first three starts of the 2005 season, Ellis has thrown for 642 yards and 11 TD’s and no interceptions on 58-of-94 completions (61.7%). He has a pass efficiency rating of 157.69. On Saturday Ellis completed passes to six different receivers ... Defensively, the Blue Hose are allowing only 6.3 points per game this season. Opponents have not scored in the first quarter and only six points total in the second and third quarters. PC’s shutout of the Buccaneers was the first since holding Webber International scoreless in last year’s 28-0 victory on September 18, 2004 ... The Blue Hose defense frustrated CSU’s quarterback Colin Drafts all day. Drafts, the 2005 preseason Big South Co-Offensive Player of the Year, was sacked four times and completed only 19-of-37 passes for 157 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception ... The Blue Hose currently hold a +9 turnover margin including forcing five interceptions and recovering six fumbles ... Redshirt junior running back Corey Fidler (Savannah, Ga.) rushed for a career-high 88 yards and two TD’s on 14 carries on Saturday as the team rushed for 162 yards on 39 carries. For the season, Fidler leads the Blue Hose ground attack with 163 yards and four TD’s on 40 carries ... Sophomore wideout Justin Durant (Florence, S.C.) continued his solid play this season versus the Bucs. Durant caught three passes for 36 yards and one TD. Durant leads the Blue Hose receiving corps with 16 receptions for 211 yards and five TD’s. He also leads the team in scoring (10.0 pts/gm) and all-purpose yards (70.3 yds/gm) ... Senior wideout Kip McAlister (Richburg, S.C.) caught three passes for 25 yards and one TD versus CSU on Saturday. McAlister is second only to Durant in receptions (15), receiving yards (144), and TD”s (3) this season ... Junior wideout Chris Pope (Ninety-Six, S.C.) caught five passes for a career-high 102 yards including a 60-yard reception on Saturday ... Redshirt sophomore kicker Stuart Mull (Morganton, N.C.) averaged 38.8 yards per punt versus CSU including two punts downed inside the 20-yardline and two punts were touchbacks. He had a career-best punt of 63 yards and was a perfect six-for-six on extra-point attempts. For the season, Mull is averaging 40.9 yards per punt and of his 16 attempts, six have been downed inside the 20-yardline, three were touchbacks, and one fair catch ... Redshirt junior linebacker Cheyenne Keener (Canton, N.C.) led the Blue Hose defense with 11 total stops to go while senior cornerback Quasi Gary (Kingstree, S.C.) added 10 total stops, one forced and one recovered fumble. Junior safety/linebacker Justin Jones (Carrollton, Ga.) also added 10 total stops ... Senior defense end Nick Willis (Saluda, S.C.) had a big game versus the Buccaneers. Willis tallied eight total stops, three quarterback hurries, two tackles for loss (-7), one sack (-5), and recovered one fumble which he returned 18 yards for a touchdown ... Presbyterian College (3-0) is off to its best start since the 1979 season. The Blue Hose will look to improve to 4-0 on the season for the first time since 1959 this Saturday, September 17 with a road game against NCAA I-AA Elon University (1-1) at 2:00 pm in Burlington, N.C. PC has started a football season with a 3-0 mark only five times in the 92-year history of the program. PC and Elon have met 40 times on the gridiron in the season series. Elon holds a slim 20-18-2 edge in the series including a 33-23 victory during the 1998 season in the last meeting.

TUSCULUM - The Tusculum College football team was idle this past week. The Pioneers (1-1) will travel to the State of Alabama for only the second time in school history and the second time in three weeks as they face Miles College. It will be the first-ever meeting between TC and the Golden Bears ... This Saturday’s match-up will be the third time Tusculum has faced a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC). TC is 2-0 against SIAC teams (both against Morehouse College). Tusculum running back Chris Mosley needs 80 rushing yards to surpass the 1,000-yard plateau in his career ... Since 2000, the Pioneers are 16-4 against non-conference opponents. Since 1927, the Pioneers are 10-17-1 following a bye week, including 2-1 during the Coach Frankie DeBusk era.

WINGATE - Wingate University senior quarterback Brandon Boone threw four touchdown passes and the Bulldog defense allowed only one touchdown as Wingate defeated North Greenville College 44-7 in NCAA Division II football action Saturday afternoon at Younts Stadium ... Boone improves to 8-0 lifetime as a starter as Wingate remains undefeated at 3-0 overall. The Bulldogs have won eight non-conference games in a row. The North Greenville Crusaders fall to 0-3 overall with the loss. Following an open week, Wingate opens South Atlantic Conference play September 24 at Tusculum College ... In the first half, Boone threw three TD passes as Wingate vaulted to an 18-0 lead at intermission. Bulldog junior wide receiver Dan Brooks caught two scoring strikes in the second quarter ... Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Bobo Thompson equaled Brooks with two touchdowns of his own, one in the second quarter and one in the third frame. Thompson’s second TD grab combined with an extra point by senior punter/place kicker Trent Campbell made the score 25-0 Wingate with 13:53 to go in the third quarter ... Brooks caught four passes for 77 yards and two scores. In 14 games as a Bulldog, Dan Brooks has 28 catches and nine touchdowns. Wingate senior running back Marvin McLain rushed 14 times for a career-high 111 yards. McLain tallied one rushing TD ... The Wingate defense held the Crusaders to only 168 yards total offense. North Greenville’s lone touchdown came in the fourth quarter after Wingate had built a 37-0 lead. The Bulldogs have allowed only one second half touchdown this season. The NGC score by Rashad Cummings is the first rushing TD Wingate has given up in 2005 ... “We were very happy with the defensive effort,” Wingate head coach Joe Reich said. “This afternoon, the defense swarmed to the ball. They did a great job. We don’t have any superstars (on defense),” Reich noted. “They work together and they like to get after it. Coach (Rashaan) Jordan and the defensive coaching staff have them working well together.” ... Reich believes the Bulldogs are in a good shape entering SAC play. “We are making progress,” he said. “I think each week we are getting better. We will use our open week to get much work done.”