ANDERSON, S.C. — Anderson (4-4) lost to Catawba (4-4) 37-33 on Saturday at Melvin & Dollie Younts Stadium. The Trojans scored 17 unanswered points across three scoring drives to move from a 24-16 deficit to a 33-24 advantage. The AU defense contributed a safety and a 25-yard interception return for a touchdown, while the offense finished with 230 passing yards and 127 rushing yards.
After the Trojans' loss, head coach
Bobby Lamb opened by crediting the support around the program, saying, "First of all, let me give a big shout out to our fans for showing up today." Lamb noted the circumstances around the home game, adding, "We're on fall break, I thought our fans really did a good job of being there at the game supporting our football team, it's a back and forth football game." He also pointed to the Black and Gold's response after halftime: "It was a game of momentum, a game of runs, I wanna commend our football team for coming out in the second half." He continued, "Really taking control of the football game, as I told them in the locker room, we won the 3rd quarter."
Wilson Edwards completed 19 of 32 passes for 230 yards and one touchdown. With the 230-yard game, Edwards reached 2,069 career passing yards, surpassing the 2,000-yard milestone.
Darren Lloyd rushed for 69 yards and a touchdown on five carries and added three catches for 22 yards and another score.
Rafael Little recorded an interception and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown.
Alex Ledford recorded seven tackles and has reached 105 career tackles, surpassing the 100-tackle milestone.
Carter Wit has recorded 10 or more tackles in two consecutive games.
Zay Williams finished with four receptions for 81 yards.
The Black and Gold outscored Catawba 16-7 in the first quarter and 14-0 in the third quarter. Anderson's defense scored nine points on the safety and Little's interception return, while the offense used third-down completions of 20 and 46 yards on touchdown drives.
The Black and Gold finished the first quarter ahead 16-7, with Lloyd scoring twice and the defense adding a safety. Earlier, AU struck on its opening possession when Lloyd broke a 66-yard touchdown run at 14:39, and
Phillip Bonacci's extra point made it 7-0. Catawba answered with a 75-yard touchdown drive to tie it at 7-7, but Samuel Mullis later pinned Catawba at its 4-yard line with a 56-yard punt, and
Scotty Miley and
Daniel Williams combined to sack Mason Fortune in the end zone for a safety at 8:45. The Trojans followed with a nine-play, 60-yard drive that included a 20-yard third-down completion from Edwards to
Seth Fischbach and ended with Edwards finding Lloyd for a 19-yard touchdown with 3:48 left. Catawba moved to the AU 37 before the quarter expired, but the Black and Gold carried the 16-7 lead into the second quarter.
The Trojans were held to three points in the second quarter, but those came on a 10-play, 71-yard drive in the final 1:35 that Bonacci finished with a 28-yard field goal as time expired. Earlier,
RJ Gibson broke up a third-down pass to force a 39-yard Catawba field goal that made it 16-10, and Edwards answered with completions to
Lennix Valarie and
KD Whitt before AU turned the ball over on downs at the Catawba 40. Catawba finished the quarter with 117 rushing yards and touchdown runs from Bennett Galloway at 4:00 and Jayden Jones at 1:41 to build a 24-16 lead. AU's late drive included Edwards completions of 26 yards to Williams, 26 yards to Valarie and 11 yards to Valarie, sending the Trojans into halftime down 24-19.
The Black and Gold scored the only 14 points of the third quarter, turning a 24-19 deficit into a 33-24 lead by the end of the quarter. After forcing a Catawba punt on the opening possession, Edwards hit Williams for 46 yards on third-and-11, and
Darron Parry finished the 61-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown run at 10:11 before Bonacci's extra point made it 26-24. The defense added points on Catawba's next series when Little intercepted Fortune and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown at 8:04, with Bonacci's kick pushing AU to 33-24. The Trojans followed with another defensive stop aided by quarterback hurries from
Zay Nalls and Miley, then used a 4:53 possession and Mullis' 49-yard punt to help carry the 33-24 lead into the fourth quarter.
AU got the ball back with six seconds left after
Jimyll Lundy and
Zach Rogers stopped Catawba on fourth-and-4 at the AU 34, but the final lateral sequence ended with Catawba recovering a fumble and closing out a 37-33 result. Earlier, the Trojans' defense opened the quarter with a stop, with Wit breaking up a third-down pass before Catawba punted. The offense picked up a first down on Parry's 7-yard run but later punted, and Catawba followed with a 50-yard touchdown pass before its extra point made it 33-31. After Edwards was intercepted on the next AU possession, Catawba used the short field for a 5-yard Bennett Galloway touchdown run at 6:33 to move in front 37-33. The Black and Gold's next drive reached the AU 47 after a roughing-the-passer penalty but ended in a punt, setting up the late defensive stand that gave the Trojans one final possession.
Up next, the AU football team visits Wingate on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 3 p.m. in Wingate, N.C.
