Football Loses at Lenoir-Rhyne

HICKORY, N.C. – The Lions' football team lost at no. 5 Lenoir-Rhyne, 45-17 Saturday afternoon at Moretz Stadium. Mars Hill fell to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the South Atlantic Conference. The Bears improved to 8-0 on the season and 5-0 in the league.

Keshaun Taylor caught five passes for 55 yards and one score while Dimitri Holmes caught three passes for 52 yards to lead the Lions' offense. Darius Jones led Lion rushers with 71 yards on 11 carries while quarterback Trent Miller was 9-23 for 87 yards in the air. Matt Layman threw for 56 yards completing 3-of-7 passes. Michael Ashley averaged 41.4 yards per punt on five attempts and placed four inside the 20-yardline. Jamel Brintley led the Lions' defense with eight tackles (7 solo). Trey Clark and Christiaan Davis followed with seven stops apiece. Chris Daniels had four solo tackles, a sack and two tackles-for-loss.

Jarrod Spears and Chris Robinson led the Bears, rushing for 195 and 156 yards, respectively. Robinson added three touchdown rushes. Tanner Botts led all tacklers with 11.

Mars Hill led the Bears 10-7 after the first quarter on a 19-yard scamper by Jamel Harbison and a 30-yard field goal by Tyler Stewart. L-R then scored 10 unanswered points in the second frame to take a 17-10 advantage going into the locker room at the intermission.

The third quarter sealed the win for the Bears. They scored on all four of their possessions to put 28 points on the board in the third stanza and take a 45-10 lead. Taylor caught a seven-yard touchdown pass from Layman with 8:25 left in regulation to make the final tally 45-17 after a successful PAT kick by Stewart.

Mars Hill will host SAC rival Catawba on Saturday, November 1. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.