NCWC football earns 51-20 Homecoming win over Maryville

Rocky Mount, NC - North Carolina Wesleyan jumped out to a 28-0 lead and did not look back en route to a 51-20 gridiron victory over Maryville College on Homecoming Saturday at the Rocky Mount Athletic Complex.  Nathan Hackney, Asmun Washington, Sean McNeil, Kyle Kuhn, and Brandon Craig once again paved the way for Wesleyan's offense as the Bishops amassed over 500 total yards for the second straight week.  The five offensive linemen, in fact, were named to D3Football's Team of the Week for their performance last Saturday.

NCWC has now won three straight games and improves to 3-2 on the season, 2-0 in USA South Conference play.  Maryville suffers its first loss and now stands at 4-1 overall, 1-1 in league action.

Wesleyan took the opening kick-off 78 yards in 12 plays to score the game's first touchdown.  Senior Cedric Townsend did the honors with a nine-yard TD run to cap the drive.  The Scots then fumbled the ensuing kick-off, and two plays later, Orlando Webb hauled in a 25-yard touchdown pass from Townsend.  Brian Vaughn's second point-after gave the Blue & Gold a quick 14-0 lead.

The first quarter ended with Davon Collins running back a Maryville punt 76 yards to the Scot six-yardline.  The second quarter then began with six-yard TD strike from Townsend to Teron Bush.  The Bishops made it 28-0 on another Townsend rush with 6:12 remaining before the half.

The Scots managed a score of their own with a 10-play, 43-yard drive that saw quarterback Lucas Wall hit Ryan Gaines with a four-yard touchdown pass.  Brad Daniell's PAT, however, failed.

With 1:17 left on the clock, the Bishops were not done. Bryan Haywood ran back the ensuing kick-off 27 yards to give Townsend room to work.  The talented quarterback quickly took Wesleyan 47 yards with a nine-yard run and three complete passes, the last of which saw senior wideout Noah Parson record the first touchdown reception of his career.  NCWC led 35-6 at the break.

In the second half, Vaughn continued the Blue & Gold rout with a program-record 41-yard field goal midway through the third quarter.  Townsend and Haywood each tallied touchdown runs to start the fourth before head coach Jack Ginn went to his bench.

Down 51-6, the Scots managed two TD rushes late in the game.  The first was a 60-yard scamper by back-up quarterback Gary Hughes, while the second came at the hands of Darrell Tate.  Daniell converted both PATs for thee 51-20 final.

Wesleyan finished with 503 yards of total offense.  Townsend completed 16-of-24 pass attempts for 218 yards and three touchdowns.  On the ground, he tallied 67 yards and three more scores. 

Haywood led Bishop running backs with 120 yards, including a long run of 78.  Bush had 101 yards on the ground and pulled in five catches for 44 yards.  Webb finished with four catches for 113 yards.

Defensively, Davelle Whitney recorded 10 tackles and a sack, while Jezreel Davis returned Wesleyan's lone interception 55 yards.

For Maryville, Wall finished 14-of-32 for 124 yards through the air.  Hughes' long run made him the Scots' leading rusher with 64 yards on the day.  Maryville managed 358 yards as a team.

MC's Kyle Chewning led all players with 14 tackles, including 1.5 for a loss.

The Blue & Gold will now enjoy a bye-week before returning to action on October 13th at Averett University.  Game time is slated for 1:00 p.m. in Danville, VA.