Cats Win at St. Andrews
LAURINBURG, N.C. – The Bethel Wildcats evened their record at 1-1 with a 42-22 victory at St. Andrews Saturday. It was the first meeting ever between the two programs.
Bethel moved to 1-1 on the season while the Knights fell to 0-2.
Bethel got on the board at the 11:43 mark with a 64-yard opening drive capped off with a Nolan Chowbay to Ray'Quan Wilson ten-yard touchdown strike. Luis Morales made it 7-0 with the point after.
The Knights tied the game with a Lavarius Heath-Lewis 45 -yd interception return. Andrew Austin's PAT with 2:27 left in the quarter made it 7-7.
The last play of the quarter found Chowbay connecting with Waverly's James Dixon on a 30-yard pass to give Bethel a 13-7 margin. Andrew Welch nailed the point after to give the Wildcats a 14-7 margin. The play finished off a 66-yard drive.
Stavonski Wilkes gave the Wildcats a 20- 7 lead with a 17 -yard gallop which capped off a 64-yard drive. Luis Morales hit the point after to up Bethel's lead to 21-7 with 10:21 left in the half.
Four minutes later Chowbay and Dixon teamed up again to make it 27-7. The 19-yard touchdown pass capped off a 64-yard drive. Welch made it 28-7 which completed the scoring in the half.
SAU cut the Bethel lead to 28-13 with an Andrew Fowler 24-yard pass to Kashard Cohens with 6:58 left in the third. Andrew Austin converted on a two-point conversion to make it 28-15.
Bethel answered with another Dixon catch for a touchdown. The Chowbay toss came with 4:34 left in the quarter. Morales made it 35-15. It was a seven play 57-yard drive for the Cats.
Bethel tacked on another score at the 6:47 mark of the fourth quarter with a Kegan Huddleston two- yard run. Welch's kick made it 42-15.
The Knights bounced back when Wallace hit Kashard Cohens from 47-yards out to make it 42-21. Austin knocked in the point after to cut Bethel's lead to 42-22 with 5:27 left. That would prove to be the final score.
The Wildcats outgained SAU 543-331 in total yards. The Cats had a 298-216 in passing yards. The Wildcats had a 245-115 margin in rushing yards. Bethel had 31 first downs in the game.
Chowbay was 26-of-33 in the air for 289 yards and four touchdowns. Dieuly Aristilde had three receptions for 104 yards. Wilson caught ten passes for 82 yards. Dixon caught seven passes for 75 yards and the three touchdowns.
Brody Franks led the Wildcats on defense with nine total tackles with two of those being tackles for losses. Devious Christmon and Mike Malone had interceptions in the road win.
Coach Mike Jasper stated how proud he was of his team and their effort. "We are extremely proud of the way our guys played today. We had a few miscues we need to clean up but for the most part we executed and did well enough to beat a tough football team."
A sidenote to the game was that both teams took a knee before their initial offensive series. The acts were in respect and honor of 9/11.
The Road Warrior Cats stay on the road visiting Union College Saturday. Action begins at 11 a.m.
Live video:
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/unionky/
Live Stats:
https://naiastats.prestosports.com/sports/fball/2021-22/boxscores/20210918_v4qy.xml