No. 18 Carson-Newman Runs by Wingate, 45-7, to Win 21st SAC Title
WINGATE, N.C. — Senior running back Buck Wakefield (Drummonds, Tenn.) rushed for a school-record 303 yards and two touchdowns to lead the 18th-ranked Carson-Newman football team (8-2, 6-0) to a 45-7 victory over Wingate (6-3, 4-2 SAC) on Saturday afternoon in South Atlantic Conference action at Irwin Belk Stadium.
WINGATE, N.C. — Senior running back
Buck Wakefield (Drummonds, Tenn.) rushed for a
school-record 303 yards and two touchdowns to lead the 18th-ranked
Carson-Newman football team (8-2, 6-0) to a 45-7 victory over
Wingate (6-3, 4-2 SAC) on Saturday afternoon in South Atlantic
Conference action at Irwin Belk Stadium.
With the win, the Eagles clinch their 21st SAC title and extend
their winning streak to eight games. C-N won't have to share the
league crown with anybody as Tusculum upset Mars Hill by a 38-28
score in Greeneville, Tenn.
“They aren’t satisfied (with just the SAC
title),” C-N head coach Ken Sparks said.
“They want to see how much better we can get before this
thing is over with.”
Wakefield surpassed the single-game rushing mark of 299 yards set
by Heath Hawkins in 1998 against Slippery Rock. Wakefield has now
rushed for 685 and 10 touchdowns on 51 carries in four career games
against the Bulldogs, averaging 13.4 yards per carry.
“I didn’t think that record would ever go down,”
Sparks said. “He didn’t have a complete game, but we
are glad to have Buck Wakefield. He's been amazing since he came
back from injury.”
The Eagles amassed 657 yards of total offense on the day with 496
yards on the ground and 161 through the air.
C-N senior signal caller Alex Good (Greensboro,
N.C.) completed 6-of-11 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns to
lead the Eagles’ passing attack. He also added 65 yards and a
touchdown on the ground.
Good’s first touchdown pass, a 53-yard scoring strike to
Charles Dobson (Umatilla, Fla.) on the fourth play
of the game, moved him past former Eagle great Leonard Guyton for
first in school history in career touchdown passes with 42. The
record was the second Good has broken in as many games, as he also
became the Eagles’ all-time leader in total offense last week
against Brevard.
C-N turned in another stellar performance on defense. The Eagles
surrendered 373 yards on the day but held Wingate out of the end
zone with two goal line stands. C-N had three fourth-down stops for
the game.
The Eagles took the opening kickoff and needed less than two
minutes to find the end zone. On C-N’s fourth play from
scrimmage, Good connected with Dobson on a bubble screen, and
Dobson evaded a defender and raced 53 yards to pay dirt.
Carlos Lopez’s (Seymour, Tenn.) extra point
gave C-N a 7-0 lead with 13:15 left in the first quarter.
Lopez added a 31-yard field goal at the 3:22 mark of the first
stanza to push the Eagles’ lead to 10-0.
Eagles senior cornerback P.J. Woods (Ft. Meyers,
Fla.) set up C-N’s next score by intercepting Wingate’s
Cody Haffly (Locust Grove, Ga.) at the Eagles' 21. C-N then went on
an 11-play, 79-yard scoring drive capped off by a 3-yard touchdown
run by Ricky Harris (Perry, Ga.) to give the
Eagles a 17-0 advantage.
Wingate scored its lone touchdown of the game two possessions
later, as Haffly found Phillip Thomas (St. Pauls, N.C.) for a
42-yard touchdown pass to cut C-N’s lead to 17-7.
But the Eagles answered on the very next play. Wakefield took a
handoff from Good and busted loose up the middle and outran the
Wingate defense for a 68-yard touchdown run. Lopez’s point
after gave C-N a 24-7 cushion.
The Eagles added two more touchdowns to close out the half. Good
hooked up with Dobson for a 56-yard scoring strike and added a
7-yard touchdown run with 13 seconds left in the second quarter to
give C-N a 38-7 advantage heading into the locker room. Dobson
finished the day with a career-high 125 yards and two touchdowns on
four receptions.
C-N put the game away late in the third quarter, as Wakefield
broke free for a 64-yard touchdown run to give the Eagles a 45-7
lead.
Haffly completed 19-of-37 passes for 280 yards and a touchdown to
lead Wingate.
Thomas caught six passes for 102 yards and a touchdown to lead the
Bulldogs in receiving.
C-N closes out the regular season next Saturday at home against
SAC rival Tusculum. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Burke-Tarr
Stadium.
