ANDERSON, S.C. – Rallying from down by 21 points early in the second quarter, the Anderson University (2-3, 0-3 SAC) football team pushed the Catawba Indians (2-3, 1-2 SAC) to overtime, falling just short of picking up their first South Atlantic Conference victory by a 44-41 margin on Sunday, October 6.
Junior Tyler Wesley (St. Cloud, Fla.) led the Trojans throughout the game, throwing 22 completions for 354 yards and four touchdowns, including a season long of 77 yards. Redshirt-junior Jalon Warthen-Carr (Macon, Ga.) hauled in a career best 184 yards and a touchdown on his nine receptions. Redshirt-freshman Zaidon Gunn (Grovetown, Ga.) caught just one pass on the afternoon that went for 77 yards and a score. Redshirt-freshman Aiden Dixon (Forest Hill, Md.) and junior Wesley Beckett (Baltimore, Md.) each caught a touchdown on the day as well.
Defensively the Trojans were led by redshirt-freshman Josiah Jeffery (Greenwood, S.C.) who recorded 14 total tackles on the day, evenly split among solo and assisted, while adding a pass breakup and a QB hurry to his stat line. Redshirt-junior Jerrod Woods (Leesburg, Ga.) recorded the lone sack of the afternoon for the Trojans, providing a loss of five yards to go with his 13 tackles on the day. Redshirt-freshman Darrion Perry (Beaufort, S.C.) hauled in a key interception late in the third quarter that stymied a Catawba drive.
The contest did not start out as planned for the Black and Gold as they would go three and out on their first three drives while Catawba was able to capitalize on all of theirs taking the 21-0 lead with 13:17 to play in the second. That's when the Trojans began to find their stride as they were able to methodically move down the field over their next two drives, capping them off with receptions from Warthen-Carr and Beckett to bring the score gap to just 21-14. Catawba added a late field goal in the opening half to take the 24-14 lead into the locker room.
Forcing the Catawba Indians to punt on their first drive of the third quarter, thanks to a sack by Woods, the Trojans used just one play to bring the margin to just three points as Wesley hit Gunn in stride for 77 yards, bringing the score to 24-21. Catawba answered with a two-play touchdown drive on their next possession to re-extend their advantage out to 10, where it would stand heading into the fourth quarter.
Tyler Wesley kicked off the scoring for the Black and Gold in the fourth, taking it in himself from four yards out to make the score 31-28. And while again Catawba would have an answer, scoring a touchdown with just 2:54 left in regulation, the Trojans were able to respond quickly themselves, taking just 1:09 off the clock as Wesley found Dixon along the sideline and was able to stay inbounds in the endzone to pull them back to within three, 38-35.
Anderson executed an onside kick to perfection and was able to drive down into field goal range for freshman Ross Burnette (Raleigh, N.C.) who knocked a 44-yard attempt through the uprights to force overtime, tied at 38. Burnette was called upon again for the Black and Gold in the first overtime period, pushing a 25-yard attempt through the uprights, but the Catawba ground game proved to be too much in the end as they were able to score a touchdown on their first overtime possession, taking the 44-41 win.
The Trojans continued their extended road trip now with a visit to UVA Wise this Saturday, October 12 for a 2:00 p.m. kick-off.
