ANDERSON, S.C. – Holding the nation's fourth-best rushing attack to just 74 yards and the entire offense to just 88 total yards, the Anderson University (3-0, 1-0 SAC) football team started off their 2025 conference slate with a dominating performance, posting the first shutout in program history as they downed the Pioneers of Tusculum University (1-2, 0-2 SAC) by a final score of 30-0 on Saturday, September 13 at Spero Financial Field.
This is the second time this season that the Trojans defense has set a new low mark for yards given up, with the old record sitting at 174 against Shorter just two weeks ago. They also set a new mark for least passing yards allowed with just 14, bettering their mark of 94 against Catawba last season. 74 rushing yards ranks third all-time defensively.
Leading the charge defensively was redshirt-senior Jerrod Woods (Leesburg, Ga.) who tallied eight tackles on the day, including an assisted TFL. Redshirt-sophomore Carter Wit (John's Creek, Ga.) posted six tackles on the afternoon, with 1.5 TFLs and a forced fumble to his credit as well. Freshman Beedjy Guerrier (Dallas, Ga.) recorded the only sack of the game for the Trojans while senior Alex Andres (Kissimmee, Fla.) was able to record a pair of pass breakups.
Offensively, the Trojans were led on the ground and in the air by senior Tyler Wesley (St. Cloud, Fla.) who recorded 218 yards through the air for a pair of scores and an addition 61 yards on the ground. Redshirt-sophomore Bryson James (Cross Hill, S.C.) recorded 16 carries on the afternoon with 40 yards while fellow redshirt-sophomore Zaidon Gunn (Grovetown, Ga.) carried four times for 34 yards and a touchdown. Redshirt-senior Jalon Warthen-Carr (Macon, Ga.) was Wesley's favorite target on the day, hauling in six catches for 68 yards, but it was the tight ends in graduate Jonathan Bowden (Palm Bay, Fla.) and senior Wesley Beckett (Baltimore, Md.) that were the ones to haul in Wesley's touchdown passes on the afternoon.
The Trojans won the toss to open the game, and received the opening kickoff, working their way methodically down the field with a 14 play 75-yard drive that ended with Beckett catching a shovel pass from Wesley from five yards out to put the Trojans ahead early 7-0. Anderson forced a quick three-and-out and added three more points to the scoreboard on their second drive of the day as graduate Elijah Swett (Matthews, N.C.) knocked a 27-yard field goal through the uprights to put the Trojans up by 10 at the end of the first quarter.
Anderson wasted no time in the second quarter of action, as they worked their way down the field on their first drive of the frame, using a three-yard rush by Gunn to put a cap on the drive and boost the Black and Gold's lead to 17. Tusculum was able to put together a promising drive on their next possession, but a pair of incompletions towards the end doomed them, giving possession back to the Trojans. Anderson was again able to take advantage of their next possession, this time with Wesley finding Bowden at the goal line, giving them the 24-0 lead heading into the break.
Swett was able to add six more points to the Trojans' tally in the second half of action, with conversions from 43 and 30 yards, but nothing more came out of it as the Trojans wrapped up their 30-0 shutout victory.
Anderson returns to the road for the next two weeks, starting with a trip to Mars Hill, N.C. to take on the Lions of Mars Hill in a 1:00 p.m. showdown on Saturday, September 20.
