Dwayne McGee rushed for 90 yards and a touchdown while the Lenoir-Rhyne defense forced two turnovers and tallied a school-record 10 sacks in a 34-14 South Atlantic Conference win over visiting Tusculum Saturday afternoon at Moretz Stadium in the season finale for both teams.
Tusculum (8-3, 6-3 SAC) out-gained the Bears in total yardage 370-317, but the Pioneers went 1-of-13 on their third-down conversions including 1-of-7 on their fourth-down tries.
LR’s Andre Jefferson led the Bears defensive efforts with eight tackles including 5.5 sacks and a pair of quarterback hurries.
Tusculum quarterback Tre Simmons went 13-of-28 for 264 yards and two touchdowns and one interception. His favorite targets were Mydreon Vines and Tyler Burke. Vines hauled in four catches for 118 yards while Burke finished with five receptions for 100 yards.
LR (8-3, 7-2 SAC) scored the first 27 points of the game including McGee’s 64-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter as the Bears led by four scores.
Tusculum broke the scoring drought when Simmons connected with tight end Will Shellenback on a 41-yard TD completion. Juan Villasenor’s kick made it 27-7 at the 5:34 mark of the third quarter.
The Tusculum defense forced a three-and-out on the next possession, forcing a punt and taking over at the TU 45. But a costly holding penalty on the first play of the drive put the Pioneers behind the chains. Simmons completed a 13-yard pass to Burke on third down to make fourth down-and-seven more manageable. But Jon Ross Maye posted a sack on fourth down as the Bears took over on downs.
Four straight carries by LR’s Zyheir Dillard moved the Bears into Tusculum territory. Quarterback Sean White completed a 24-yard touchdown pass to Kelin Parsons to extend the lead to 34-7 in the final moments of the third period.
Tusculum answered quickly on and on the first play of the fourth quarter, Simmons found Vines on a 38-yard TD completion to round out the scoring for the game.
Neither team would mount a scoring threat for the rest of the game as the Bears punted three times while TU turned the ball over twice on downs and once on an interception to end the contest.
LR finished the game with 156 rushing yards and 161 passing yards. With the sacks, Tusculum was held to 14 rushing yards. The Bears also dominated the time of possession by a 34:41-to-23:33 margin.
Defensively, LR’s Damien Savage had a team-high 12 tackles including two for loss and a sack. The TU duo of Wesley Scott and Earnest Johnson each had nine tackles, while John Smith finished with six hits.
TU punter Andrew Cantrell established a pair of Tusculum records on Saturday. He broke the previous school marks for career punt attempts and career punting yards, both held by his older brother Hunter who played at TU from 2014-2017. Andrew Cantrell owns the TU record for punt attempts (246), punting yards (9577) and career punts inside the 20 (82). His 38.93 career punt average is also the seventh-highest in TU history.
TU freshman Eddie Watson broke the school single-season record with his 32 punt returns, breaking the previous mark of 31 by Donald Amaker in 2001. Watson’s 303 punt return yards are the fourth-most by a Pioneer in a season.
Tusculum’s eight wins this season are tied for the third-most in school history. The Pioneers finished the 2002 season as runner-up in the SAC Mountain Division.
