Football Drops Season-Opener

MARS HILL, N.C. – The Lions' football team lost their season opener to West Georgia, 31-21 in the Ammons Family Athletic Center and Meares Stadium. Turnovers plagued MHU in the loss. It was the Wolves first game of the year as well.

Shaikel Davis led MHU rushers with 112 yards on the ground averaging 4.9 yards per carry. Dimitri Holmes hauled in six passes for 70 yards while Cameron Shuford caught two passes for 48 yards and one score. Trent Miller was 12-21 for 167 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.Chamarcus Pittard led the Lions' defense with 14 tackles, a tackle-for loss and an interception he returned 51 yards for Mars Hill's second score of the day just before the end of the first half of play. Sammy Siasia followed with 12 tackles while Troy Harris had 10 stops, including two for a loss of yardage.

Quan Jones led WGU rushing for 114 yards on 19 carries, averaging six yards per carry. Alex Armah led the Wolves defense with 10 tackles including 2.5 tackles-for-loss. Tyrell Adams followed with eight tackles, three for loss while Rocky Capobianco had six tackles and an interception return for a 25-yard touchdown.

The Lions had two passes picked off and lost one fumble in the loss. One of the interceptions and a blocked punt led directly to two of the Wolves scores. WGU began their average drive on their own 38 yard line. MHU started their average drive on their own 16 yard line so field position also played an important role in the contest.

MHU accumulated 348 yards of total offense as opposed to 255 for the Wolves. WGU placed five punts inside the Lions' 20 yard line and four traveled over 50 yards.

The Lions struck first when Miller hit Shuford for a 19 yard touchdown strike with 12:31 left in the second quarter. WGU got on the board with 1:32 left in the half when Mark Bardenwerper hit a 21-yard field goal to trim the Lions' lead to 7-3. At the 1:10 mark of the second frame, Capobianco ran an interception back 18 yards to give the Wolves a 10-7 advantage after Bardenwerper's PAT kick was good. Just as the fans thought the first half was over, Pittard picked off Austin Trainer's pass at midfield and scampered 51 yards to give the Lions a 14-10 halftime advantage after Victor Yurco split the uprights on the ensuing PAT attempt.

The Wolves scored two unanswered touchdowns in the third stanza to take a 24-14 lead they would not relinquish. Trainer picked up a blocked punt with 13:01 on the clock in the third quarter and ran in from 19 yards out to make the score 17-14 after a successful PAT kick. Jones then ran in from seven yards out with 7:27 on the clock to extend the Wolves lead to 24-10.

On a crucial third down play with 8:44 left in regulation, Miller hit Paul Gilmore for a 27-yard touchdown strike to bring the Lions within three points (24-21) of the Wolves. In their next possession, West Georgia drove 70 yards consuming over six minutes of the clock to seal the win after Dallas Dickey finished the drive on a 1-yard dive into the endzone. MHU lost a fumble in their final possession and WGU ran out the clock to leave Mars Hill with the 10-point victory.

The Lions will play at Shorter on Thursday night, September 12. The game will be televised by CSS-TV at 7 p.m.