Football Wins at St. Augustine’s, 41-12

RALEIGH, N.C. - Jon Richt threw for his career high five touchdowns to lead Mars Hill to a 41-12 victory at St. Augustine's College Saturday afternoon. Wide receiver P.J. Gore was on the receiving end of three of those touchdown strikes. The Lions take their season record to 2-1 while the Falcons fell to 1-1 on the year.

Richt (Watkinsville, Ga.) was 11-19 for 220 yards in the air. Gore (North Myrtle Beach, S.C.) caught four passes for 127 yards. Joshua Young (Jacksonville, Fla.) caught four passes for 69 yards while Jonas Randolph rushed for 66 yards on 12 carries. Defensive end Maurice Harris (Hendersonville, N.C.) led the Lions' defense with nine tackles, a tackle for loss and 1.5 sacks. Defensive tackle Marzarius Samon (Jacksonville, Fla.) posted six tackles and an interception. Mars Hill's defense forced five Falcon turnovers in the contest. The Lions scored 41 unanswered points before they let the Falcons get on the board midway through the fourth quarter. Richt found Patrick Park (Anaheim, Calif) for a 12-yard touchdown pass with 12:20 left in the opening quarter. Michael Pinkerton's PAT kick was blocked. Eight minutes later (4:25) Gore hauled in a five-yard touchdown toss from Richt to make the score 13-0. Gore and Richt hooked up again on a 62-yard scoring pass with 11:43 remaining in the second frame to extend the Lions advantage to 20-0. Richt then found Allen Woerner (Tiger, Ga.) in the endzone with 4:11 left in the first half of play. MHC went into the locker room at the intermission ahead, 27-0.

At the 9:02 mark in the third stanza, Vernon Frett (Orlando, Fla.) picked up a Rowdy Batchelor fumble on the Falcon five yard line and ran the ball in for his first career defensive score to extend the Lions' advantage to 34-0. Richt hit Gore for a 42-yard touchdown strike with 2:37 remaining in the third quarter to make the score 41-0 and end the Lions' scoring. Walter Sanders had a pair of rushing touchdowns late in the game to account for the Falcons points but the damage was already done as the Lions left Raleigh with a 41-12 victory.

MHC will play at Charleston Southern University next Saturday. Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m. MHC leads the series against the Buccaneers, 3-0. The Lions won the first meeting in 1989 by a 41-0 margin. MHC won the last meeting in 1994 by a score of 45-28.