Football Loses Close Battle with Catamounts

CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Mars Hill's football team lost a closely fought battle to NCAA Division I rival Western Carolina University, 30-23 at E.J. Whitmire Stadium. The Lions fell to 1-2 overall while the Catamounts improved to 1-3 on the season.

Shaikel Davis rushed for 158 yards on 34 carries and one score averaging 4.6 yards per carry. Davis is averaging 145 yards rushing per contest. Trent Miller was 12-25 for 169 yards and one touchdown pass. Dimitri Holmes caught five passes for 77 yards and one score. Sammy Siasia led the Lions' defense with 12 tackles and 1.5 tackles-for-loss. Charmarcus Pittard and Troy Harris followed with nine tackles apiece. Montego Baldwin had five tackles and returned an intercepted PAT pass 98 yards for a 2-point defensive score.

Quarterback Troy Mitchell and wide receiver Karnorris Benson led the Catamounts to victory. The duo connected on three scoring plays of 80, 75 and 33 yards. Mitchell was 20-35 for 350 yards while Benson caught nine passes for 212 yards. Courtland Carson led WCU's defense with 14 tackles. Christon Gill and Sertonuse Harris followed with eight stops each.

Richard Sigmon hit a 21-yard field goal with 9:49 left in the first quarter to give the Catamounts a 3-0 lead. After Mars Hill lost a fumble on their own 1-yardline, Shaun Warren dove into the endzone two plays later to give WCU a 10-0 advantage after Sigmon's PAT kick was successful. That was all the scoring the first half would see.

Mars Hill marched 69 yards on eight plays capped off by a 29-yard touchdown run by Shaikel Davis to bring the Lions within three points of the Catamounts at the 11:29 mark of the third frame after Victor Yurco's PAT kick was good.

Marquez Williams ran in from two yards out to give the Lions their first lead of the game with 7:27 left in the third quarter. Yurco's kick failed and the Lions led 13-10. The drive consisted of eight plays spanning 77 yards.

Trent Miller then hit Dimitri Holmes on a 10-yard scoring strike with 10:57 left in regulation to extend the Lions lead to 19-10. Head coach Tim Clifton then went to his bag of tricks and called a tailback pass from Foluke Gordon-Lamar to Jeremy Hughes for a successful two-point conversion to make the score 21-10.

On the Catamounts' next possession, Troy Mitchell connected with Karnorris Benson on an 80-yard pass play to bring WCU within five points, 21-16 with 10:39 on the clock. After a Catamount timeout, WCU tried a two-point conversion pass that was picked off by Montego Baldwin who returned the ball 98 yards for a two-point defensive score to extend the Lions' advantage to 23-16.

Mitchell and Benson connected again on a huge 75-yard scoring pass with 6:22 left in the contest. A successful PAT kick by Sigmon tied the game at 23-all.

The Catamounts held MHU on their next possession and the Lions were forced to punt the ball away with 5:13 left in the game. WCU drove 72 yards on six plays that ended with a 33-yard scoring reception, again from Mitchell and Benson. This was the duo's third score of the contest and this one later proved to be the game winner.

Mars Hill was unable to score in their final drive and the Catamounts obtained a 30-23 victory. The Lions will travel to Newberry next Saturday to open South Atlantic Conference play. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.