ANDERSON, S.C. — The Anderson University (4-2, 3-1) football team dropped a heartbreaker to Emory & Henry (2-4, 1-3) in the waning minutes, 23-20 on Saturday at Melvin & Dollie Younts Stadium. The Trojans scored in each of the first three quarters and
Darren Lloyd scored on a 48-yard touchdown in the third, but AU was held scoreless in the fourth. The Black and Gold passed for 222 yards and two touchdowns, while E&H finished with 455 total yards, including 301 rushing yards.
After AU's loss to E&H,
Bobby Lamb pointed the focus toward the team's response, saying, "This game doesn't define our season, but how we react to this game." He added, "That will define our season," before turning attention to the week ahead: "My dad said it bes, he said he always said the sun's gonna come up. Well, the sun will come up tomorrow and then we'll be ready to look ahead to Carson-Newman."
Wilson Edwards completed 15 of 29 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns.
Zay Williams caught seven passes for 114 yards and a touchdown and added 18 yards on three punt returns. Williams recorded a season-high 114 receiving yards and has scored at least one receiving touchdown in four consecutive games. Lloyd rushed 15 times for 44 yards and added a 48-yard touchdown reception.
Carter Wit recorded six tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery.
AU turned
KD Whitt's 54-yard kickoff return into the first score, with Edwards hitting
Zay Williams for a 24-yard touchdown on fourth-and-6 and
Phillip Bonacci adding the PAT for a 7-0 lead. The defense responded to E&H's first possession with stops by
Zach Rogers and others, forcing a punt after the visitors reached AU's 43. The Trojans later moved out from their own 10 behind Edwards completions to
Kenneth Brown and Williams before Samuel Mullis' 51-yard punt flipped the field. The Wasps put together a 10-play, 73-yard drive capped by Dallas Chavis' 7-yard touchdown run and the tying extra point with 52 seconds left, but AU answered with a late first down and Edwards' 38-yard completion to Williams as the quarter ended tied 7-7.
The Trojans carried a 13-10 lead out of the second quarter after scoring the quarter's lone touchdown and holding E&H to a final-play field goal. Earlier, AU began the quarter at the Wasps' 26 and reached the 5, with Lloyd converting third-and-4 on a 6-yard run before Edwards was stopped for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1. The defense answered by forcing a punt from the E&H 10, then, after Edwards was intercepted at 8:26, Wit and
Zay Nalls broke up consecutive passes to force another punt from the Wasps' 13. The Trojans' next drive began at midfield, picked up a first down on an E&H personal foul, featured a 25-yard Edwards completion to Whitt to the 9 and ended with
Darron Parry's 1-yard touchdown run at 3:51, though the point-after try failed. The Wasps moved 63 yards in the final 3:51, but AU added tackles for loss by Wit and
Jimyll Lundy and by
Cross Killen before Asher Frisbee's 19-yard field goal on the final play closed the quarter with the Trojans ahead 13-10.
AU converted Wit's interception at the E&H 47 into points when Edwards hit Lloyd for a 48-yard touchdown on third-and-11 with 4:32 left; Bonacci's extra point made it 20-10. Earlier, the Black and Gold stopped the Wasps on fourth-and-1 at AU's 36 when Lundy tackled Dallas Chavis for no gain and the spot was upheld after review. The offense moved into E&H territory behind three Lloyd runs, including a 7-yard third-down conversion, before Samuel Mullis' 48-yard punt went for a touchback. The Wasps answered with an 80-yard drive capped by Chavis' 5-yard touchdown run with 16 seconds left, but the conversion run failed, and Whitt's 55-yard kickoff return helped AU finish the quarter with the ball and a 20-16 lead.
E&H scored the only points of the fourth quarter on
Mark Konecny's 23-yard touchdown pass to Parker Prioleau with 1:12 left, and the extra point left the Trojans facing a 23-20 deficit. Earlier,
Chase Sturgeon sacked Konecny and
Scotty Miley hurried a third-down incompletion to force a punt, and Edwards answered by hitting
Zay Williams for 26 yards before Samuel Mullis pinned the Wasps at the 2 with a 34-yard punt.
Daniel Williams later forced a De'Ante Childs fumble that Wit recovered at the E&H 48, giving AU a short field. The offense moved inside the red zone behind Lloyd's third-and-3 conversion, a 12-yard completion from Edwards to
Parr Folsom on third-and-6 and a 5-yard Folsom run, but the Trojans turned it over on downs at the 12 with 4:02 left. After the late touchdown,
Amare Reaves returned the kickoff 15 yards and AU advanced across midfield with help from roughing-the-passer and pass-interference penalties, but D.J. Ferrell intercepted Edwards at the goal line with 39 seconds remaining and E&H closed out a 23-20 final.
Up next, the Trojans travel to Jefferson City, Tenn., to face Carson-Newman on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 1 p.m.
