Wildcats & Cumberland U Meet for 33rd Time Saturday
Game Notes
The Matchup
The Bethel Wildcats and Cumberland University will meet for the 33rd time Saturday. It is the most appearances against another opponent in Wildcat history. Both teams are riding two game winning streaks entering the contest. Kick-off is slated for 1:30 p.m.
The Cats (5-2, 2-1) won 44-13 at Pikeville Saturday. The Phoenix (3-3, 2-1) won 54-32 at Campbellsville. Bethel is 3-2 on the road this season while CU is 2-1 at Nokes-Lasater Field in Lebanon.
Bethel was picked to finish fourth in the MSC Blue Grass Division Preseason Poll. Cumberland was picked seventh in the division.
It will be the 474th game in program history with Bethel's record at 182 -283 -8. CU is 150-164 since 1990. The game will be CU's Homecoming.
Series:
Cumberland holds a 20-11-1 lead in the series. They first met back in 1921. The Phoenix won 20-17 in McKenzie back in April this year. The CU defense held Bethel to a season low 120 yards of total offense. Bethel was minus 11 yards in rushing.
Live Stats: https://naiastats.prestosports.com/sports/fball/2021-22/boxscores/20211023_fnlw.xml
Video: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/cu/
Tickets: https://www.gocumberlandathletics.com/tickets/
Last Week:
(Bethel)
The Wildcats, fresh off their upset of another Top 10 team built on that momentum with a 44-13 win on the Pikeville Bears in Pikeville, Kentucky Saturday.
The Cats moved to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the Mid-South Conference while the Bears fell to 2-4 and 0-3. The Cat victory evened the series at four.
The Bears took the lead in the first stanza on a 95-yard touchdown run by Adrian Medacco. The point after with 43 seconds left by Jakob Headley gave the Bears a 7-0 lead.
Bethel's James Dixon returned the kick-off 48 yards to the UPIKE 44-yard line. After Nolan Chowbay found Dixon over the middle on a huge pass play, De'Ontay Tate carried it in from seven yards out. Luis Morales nailed the point after, and the game was tied with 14:29 left.
Pikeville had a big return which set up a 24-yard field goal by Headley and the Bears retook the lead at 10-7.
The Cats answered with a 65-yard drive capped off by Tate who rushed in untouched from three yards out and Bethel had their first lead at 14-10 with 10:16 left in the half.
Xavier King picked off a Bear pass, but the Cats could not convert on the turnover. A few players later however the Cats had another opportunity when Devious Christmon intercepted a pass at the Bear 35. One play later, Chowbay found Avont Burrus for a 35-yard touchdown strike and the Cats upped their margin to 21-10. The Christmon pick was the 12th of his career which places him 3rd all-time in Wildcat history.
The Wildcat defense did their job, and the Bethel offense took the field in the waning minutes of the half. Chowbay, the Nashville native was not through. He hit Davius Prather from 42 yards out and the Cats led 27-10. The PAT by Morales failed but the Cats went to the half with the nice lead.
The Wildcats took the second half kick-off and moved the ball inside the Red Zone but had to settle for a Luis Morales field goal. The U of M transfer and Cordova, Tennessee native nailed a 28-yarder to give the Cats a 30-10 lead.
The Wildcats came up with another turnover when Bethel's leading tackler on the season, Jakobe Griffin recovered a fumble. Chowbay went to work again with a long pass completion to Burrus. That set a 14-yard touchdown pass to Dixon and Bethel went up 37-10.
The Bears scored on a 27-yard field goal by Headley with just under 11 minutes left to make it 37-13.
The Wildcats added to their lead with 5:59 left. Tate scored his third touchdown on the day, running in from 13 yards out and Bethel won 44-13.
The Wildcats had a 569-289 advantage in total yards. Bethel had a 362-116 margin in passing yards. Bethel outrushed the Bears 207-173. Tate had 191 of those yards on 31 carries. He now has 3, 091 career rushing yards which is 4th in program history. Chowbay was 25-of-38 in passing for 362 yards and three touchdowns. Burrus caught nine passes for 144 yards. Dixon had eight receptions for 118 yards.
Vonte Bates led Bethel with nine total tackles. Jared Gentry had six stops and three tackles for losses. Jerwin Young had six total tackles and three TFL's. Xavier King had three TFL's.
Coach Michael Jasper was pleased with how his team responded. "It was a god job by our kids in staying the course today. Our offense struggled early, our defense had a huge bust, and our special teams missed a few tackles and assignments, but they all stayed locked in and got things turned around. This was a quality win against a solid and well coached program, and I am proud of how we handled things in the end."
(CU)
The Phoenix rolled through Campbellsville on the road as the offense exploded for 630 yards of offense in a 54-32 win on the road.
Cumberland (3-3, 2-1 MSC) erupted out of the gates in the first half for 46 first-half points. James Christian toted the rock 20 times for 229 yards and three touchdowns. Quarterback Dylan Carpenter completed 12-of-17 passes for 309 yards and two touchdowns. Styles Corder caught four passes for 141 yards, Jaylen Taylor had four receptions for 93 yards and a score, and Ian Hafner caught one pass for a 42-yard score.
Campbellsville (1-4, 1-2 MSC) came storming back in the second half but had too much to overcome. Dequontay Shannon rushed for 105 yards and three scores. Quarterback Josh Meglis completed 16-of-34 passes for 218 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
Cumberland scored on the opening drive after Campbellsville allowed the Phoenix to extend the drive on a punt by having too many players on the field. Christian ran in his first touchdown of the game from 10-yards out. The Phoenix went for two and failed for a 6-0 lead.
The first play from scrimmage for Campbellsville, Lebanon native Dequantay Shannon exploded for a 77-yard touchdown rush. The point-after try was no good and the game was tied at 6-6 after six minutes of play.
The Phoenix took just six plays to get in the end zone capped by a 15-yard touchdown rush by Kaleb Witherspoon to give Cumberland a 13-6 lead.
On the next drive, Campbellsville quarterback Josh Meglis tried to find a receiver in the slot and Trevor Griffin jumped the route perfectly to set up the Phoenix in Campbellsville territory. Four plays later Treylon Sheppard scored on a four-yard rush and Cumberland held a 20-6 lead after the first quarter.
The Phoenix defense forced a three-and-out on the next possession allowing quarterback Dylan Carpenter to throw for a 42-yard touchdown to Ian Hafner. The point-after by Hunter Mathis was good and Cumberland led 26-6 one minute into the second quarter.
After another quick go for the Tigers offense, the Phoenix handed it to Christian for three-straight carries, and on the third carry Christian broke loosed for a 45-yard score to put Cumberland up 33-6.
The next Cumberland possession, Carpenter threw a bomb to Jaylen Taylor for 44-yards and the Phoenix drove it to the goal line. On a second downplay, Carpenter scrambled out of the pocket and found enough daylight to rush for a four-yard score.
The Phoenix would add one more touchdown in the half after Jayden Jobe forced a fumble, recovered on the Tigers 17-yard line. Two plays later, Carpenter threw a fade to Taylor and Taylor made a circus catch while being interfered with for the score to take a 47-6 lead into the break.
Campbellsville put up 26 points in the second half to make the score look closer than the game actually was. Christian got loose for a 65-yard touchdown rush to put the icing on the cake as the Phoenix defeated Campbellsville 54-32.
Head Coaches:
Bethel's Michael Jasper is in his third year as head coach of the Wildcats. He is 16-14 in his career with the Cats. Before becoming the head coach Jasper served as the Assistant Head Coach and worked with the defensive line. Prior to that he held the titles of Offensive Line Coach and Run Game Coordinator, as well as overseeing the strength and conditioning program.
Jasper is the 12th head coach in Bethel football history.
The Wildcats were 3-4 last year and finished 3-2 in the MSC.
Before joining the Bethel staff, Jasper served as Offensive and Defensive Line Assistant at Bishop Timon High School in Buffalo, New York.
Mike spent three years in the National Football League with the Buffalo Bills, New York Giants, and the Carolina Panthers.
Coach Jasper played for the University of Tennessee at Martin in 2005 and was a starter on their 2006 Ohio Valley Conference Championship team. After redshirting at Middle Tennessee State University, Coach Jasper joined the Bethel University Wildcats as an Offensive and Defensive Lineman from 2008-2010 and was the first ever Wildcat drafted to the NFL in 2011 being selected by the Buffalo Bills.
He graduated from Bethel University with a Bachelor's Degree in University Studies. He and his wife Allison along with their daughter Davis Reid reside in McKenzie, Tennessee. Their rescue dog is named Caine.
CU's Tim Mathis is the sixth head coach since Cumberland restarted the football program in 1990. Mathis is entering his fourth season as the Phoenix Head Coach.
Mathis is 15-18 in his first three seasons at Cumberland. This past season, COVID shortened season played in the spring, Cumberland went 2-5 all against league opponents. Cumberland produced their first running back All-American in program history as Treylon Sheppard became the first 1,000-yard rusher since 2012.
In Mathis' first season at Cumberland, he led the Phoenix to a 5-6 (MSC 3-3) record. The Phoenix upset the number 4 ranked Lindsey Wilson Blue Raiders 24-21 at home on Senior Day. The offense averaged 20.0 points per game while averaging 324.9 total yards per game.
Mathis served as an assistant coach for 10 seasons at Shorter University when the Hawks started their program in the NAIA in 2005. He was the team's offensive coordinator during his last five years at Shorter, including during the transition to NCAA Division II.
Did You Know?
The 2021 Football Media Guide is now available on the Bethel Athletic page. Keep up with the Cats this season with the on-line version at bethelathletics.com. Go to Inside Athletics and click on media guides.
Find out all you need to know about this year's team and their opponents. Bio's Records, Stats, and current rankings are all available. Get all the information about YOUR Wildcats!!!!!!
Earlier this season, Bethel's Vonte Bates was named the MSC Defensive Player of The Week for his efforts against Union. Nolan Chowbay was named MSC Offensive Player of the Week.
The Wildcats are in the Bluegrass Division with Georgetown, Campbellsville, Lindsey Wilson, Cumberlands (KY), Pikeville, Thomas More and Cumberland games being divisional affairs.
Seven Mid-South Conference Teams are mentioned in the sixth regular season NAIA Football First Down PlayBook Top 25 Poll, the NAIA announced on Monday.
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) sits atop the poll with 444 points and 18 of the 19 first-place votes. The Blue Raiders are 6-0 this season and 3-0 in Bluegrass Division play. Lindsey Wilson travels to Pikeville (Ky.) on Saturday.
Reinhardt (Ga.) moved up one spot to No. 10. The Eagles earned 292 points in the poll and are 5-2 this season and 2-0 in the Appalachian Division. Reinhardt hosts Faulkner (Ala.) on Saturday.
Keiser (Fla.) fell seven spots to No. 13 after earning 226 points in the poll. The Seahawks are 4-2 and 1-1 in the Sun Division. Keiser hosts Webber International (Fla.) on Saturday.
Faulkner (Ala.) moved up three spots to No. 14. The Eagles garnered 216 points in the poll. Faulkner is 5-0 with a 2-0 record in the Appalachian Division. The Eagles travel to Reinhardt on Saturday.
Georgetown (Ky.) fell seven spots to No. 20. The Tigers earned 114 points in the poll and are 4-2 this season and 1-2 in the Bluegrass Division. Georgetown hosts Thomas More (Ky.) on Saturday.
Bethel (Tenn.) is in the top 25 this week at No. 24. The Wildcats earned 74 points in the poll.
St. Thomas (Fla.) fell one spot to No. 25. The Bobcats earned 62 points in the poll and are 7-0 overall and 3-0 in divisional play. St. Thomas is back in action on Saturday when they host Ave Maria (Fla.).
With his 191 yards rushing Saturday, De'Ontay Tate has 3, 091 career rushing yards. He is 4th all-time in Bethel history. Adrain Smith is 1st with 5, 275, Terrance Bell is second with 3, 982 while Cordarious Mann is third with 3, 862.
After another pick Saturday at UPIKE, Devious Christmon has five interceptions on the season. He is now 3rd all-time in Bethel history with 12 career interceptions. Hunter Pingston had 16. Joquel Skinner and Stoney Burns had 13 while Donald Lightfoot and Karrheem Darington finished their careers with 11.
Coach Michael Jasper spent three seasons in the NFL playing for the Buffalo Bills, New York Giants and Carolina Panthers.
Eleven different states are represented on the Bethel squad. Next to Tennessee, Alabama has the most players on the roster.
Homecoming will be celebrated this year on November 6. The week includes the 2021 Hall-of-Fame Induction ceremonies. The Cats will host Thomas More University. Kick-off is slated for 1:30 p.m.
Coach Jasper is in his third season as head coach. Several changes to the staff have been made with new personnel and duties.
2021 Bethel University Football Staff
Michael Jasper- Head Coach, Defensive Line
Chris Springer- Assistant Head Coach, Defensive Coordinator, DB
Keith Williams-Offensive Coordinator, Offensive Line
Dustin Kincaid-Linebackers, Director of Football Operations
Cody McCallister-Co-Special Teams Coordinator, Safeties
Justin Brown-Co-Special Teams Coordinator, Wide Receivers
Brett Guminsky- Tight Ends, Halfbacks, Video Coordinator
Jay Bright- Quarterbacks, Pass Game Coordinator
Terrell Jackson- Senior Defensive Analyst, Linebackers
Bobby Mitchell- Graduate Assistant, Running Backs
Bret Petersen-Graduate Assistant
Manny Belluccia- Graduate Assistant
John Pasley- Student Assistant, Defensive Backs
Devon Patrick- Student Assistant
Giante Hicks- Student Assistant
Sean Allison-Student Assistant
Riley Benavides-Student Assistant
Ian Harris-Student Assistant
Next Week:
Bethel returns home next week hosting No. 1 Lindsey Wilson at 1:30 p.m. It will be the 8th meeting between the two with the Blue Raiders holding a 5-2 advantage in the series. LWC won back in the spring abbreviated season 49-7 in Columbia.