Football Loses at Charleston Southern

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Mars Hill lost on the road at Charleston Southern 28-14 Saturday afternoon at Buccaneer Field. The Lions fell to 2-2 on the season while the Buccaneers improved to 2-1 on the year.

Jon Richt (Watkinsville, Ga.) led the Lions' offense with 212 yards completing 14-26 passes and one score. P.J. Gore (North Myrtle Beach, S.C.) caught three passes for 79 and one touchdown pass. Robert Green (Union City, Ga.) led the MHC defense with eight tackles. Darin Baldwin (Florida City, Fla.) followed with seven stops. Gerald Stevenson and A.J. Toscano led Charleston Southern. Toscano finished the day 16-26 with three touchdowns and had a career-high 374 yards, the first 300-yard performance of his career. Stevenson was the leading receiver with six catches for 198 yards, also a career high. The CSU defense spread things out with Fred Godfrey leading the way with seven tackles. CSU had three sacks, including one by Godfrey, who also led the way with 2.5 tackles for loss. Daniel Dieudonne recorded his second interception of the year, while Jacques Bazile got his first, and the team's third this year. Special teams also played a part in the victory with Kenny Johnson blocking the second punt of his career, coming in the third quarter. Stevenson also served as the kickoff and punt returner, garnering 37 yards on three returns, giving him 246 all purpose yards. The mark is fourth all time and is the first time since facing Gardner-Webb last year that a CSU player has had more than 200 yards, with Stevenson tallying 215 in that game. It was the most for Stevenson since recording a school-record 302 against Wofford in 2008. The Charleston Southern took the opening kickoff and used just two plays to take a 7-0 lead. A 26-yard return by Stevenson set up the Bucs on the 31 yardline. On the first play from scrimmage, Toscano found Nunley over the middle for 48 yards, and a 21-yard strike to Kwame Krakue completed the two-play, 69-yard drive. The offense stalled on the next two drives in the first quarter, despite running a combined 12 plays. They did drive it down on the first possession of the second quarter, using a 26-yard completion to keep the drive alive at third and 23, putting CSU inside the MHC 10 yardline. Toscano moved the ball to the one, where Moon punched it in, scoring his fourth touchdown of the season.

Mars Hill answered with an 11-play, 80-yard drive, including a 25-yard pass from Richt to Gore. Jonas Randolph (Daleville, Ala.) capped off the drive with a two yard run to cut the CSU lead to 14-7. The Bucs had a chance to increase their lead back out, but a 30-yard field goal attempt sailed wide, ending the half with the Bucs up just a touchdown. After Dieudonne gave the Bucs the ball back in the third quarter with his second interception of the year, CSU moved the ball 29 yards to set up a 43-yard field goal attempt. Again it was missed wide, leaving Mars Hill in the game. It was the third missed field goal in the last two games for CSU. Still holding a 14-7 lead in the fourth quarter, CSU was finally able to throw the knockout punch as they scored on their first two drives of the quarter. Seemingly struggling to get anything going, CSU again faced a third and long situation, but Toscano and Stevenson hooked up again, this time for 42 yards and a first down on the MHC 24. DeMarcus Moon caught the 24 yard pass for a touchdown to make it 21-7. Despite allowing 50 yards on 13 plays, the defense stiffened and forced an incomplete pass on fourth down to give the Buc offense another chance. Nine plays , 73 yards and 4:46 later, Toscano found Nunley for the score, putting the game out of reach with 3:39 on the clock. The Lions did manage to score one more time on a 43 yard pass from Richt to Gore, but the game ended as CSU recovered the on-side kick.

Mars Hill will take next week off before hosting Tusculum on October 2. It will be the Lions' annual Homecoming game. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m.