Cats Use Offensive Outburst to Tame Bulldogs
BARBOURVILLE, Ky. -After giving up nine unanswered points in the first quarter, the Bethel Wildcats answered with a 50-point unanswered outburst and beat the Union College Bulldogs 50-15 Saturday in Barbourville. The Road (Cat) Warriors moved to 2-1 on the year while the Dogs fell to 1-1.
Union's Isaiah Wright scored on a 67- yd run early in the game (13:44) to give the Dogs a 6-0 lead. Seth Burke's point after fell.
Unions' Riley Herndon nailed a 26 -yd field goal to up UC's margin to 9-0 with 7:12 left in the first.
The Wildcats got on the board with an 80-yard drive capped off by a De'Ontay Tate 10 -yd run. Luis Morales hit the point after to make it 9-7 game at the end of one.
Nolan Chowbay hit Dieuly Aristilde on a 71-yard pass play to give Bethel the lead. Morales was good again at the 12:19 mark of the second and the Cats took a 14-9 lead.
Vonte Bates added to the lead with a 32-yard interception return for a score and after the Morales PAT Bethel led 21-9 at the half.
Chowbay hit Quashawn Ford on an eight-yard pass early in the second half and Bethel took command at 28-9.
Bethel added more second half scores on a Tate 58-yard scamper. Chowbay struck paydirt again with a 65-yard strike to Davius Prather. Chowbay completed his career day with a 35-yard touchdown pass to James Dixon.
The Cats finished things off with a team safety.
Union scored late in the game for the final score of the contest.
Bethel had a 632-346 advantage in total offense. The Wildcats had a 380-123 margin in passing yards and outrushed the home team 252-223.
Chowbay was 16-28 in the air for the 280 yards. He had four touchdowns and two interceptions.
Tate had 131 rushing yards while Avont Burrus finished with six receptions for 104 yards. Dixon had 101 yards in receiving yards while Prather had 80.
Along with the Bates interception, the Cats also got a pick from Devious Christmon.
Brody Franks led the Wildcats with 10 total tackles. Bates and Jakobe Griffin contributed with eight stops.
Coach Michael Jasper was pleased with the win. "Hats off to Coach Luttrell and his program. They fought hard from start to finish and those young men deserve a lot of respect. We have been focused on us and how we play the game and making sure we uphold our standard. We started off slow, which I don't like but we responded well and settled in nicely. These kids are special and fight their tails off for our staff every day. It was great seeing some of our young guys get in and fight to keep stride." Coach added, "We are fired up to get home and play one of the best teams in the country at our place in front of our Wildcat family and he best fans in the NAIA."
Bethel plays their home opener Saturday hosting No. 7 Reinhart. Kick-off is slate for 1:30 p.m. at Wildcat Stadium.
Video:
https://bethelathletics.com/WildcatVision
Stats:
https://bethelathletics.com/sports/wvball/2021-22/boxscores/20210917_ae7o.xml