Karsceal Turner
I Got Next!
Special to West Orlando News Online
It wasn’t pretty but it was a frigging win. The 14th-ranked Wildcats rode the backs of the defense two weeks in a row and needed a fourth-quarter scoring surge to put away N.C. Central and improve to 7-0. NCCU joined the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference this season. The Eagles (2-5) are not yet eligible for the conference championship but they got a taste of the competition to come. Welcome to the MEAC.
“A win is a win,” Jenkins said. “We’ll take it. It was ugly. We didn’t play very well offensively. Thank God for our defense. My hat goes off to North Carolina Central. They played a tough physical football game, which I knew they would.”
Bethune-Cookman got a pair of first-quarter touchdowns that gave the Wildcats a cushion they would enjoy until the fourth quarter. Matt Johnson was 13-of-25 for 167 passing yards and 71 rushing yards on 16 attempts.
It took over two quarters before B-CU scored again. The Eagles defense held the nation’s most potent offense to 20 points fewer than its season average and 137 yards less than its average of 507 yards of total offense per outing. Bethune-Cookman ranks No. 1 among Division I-FCS programs in both scoring offense (43.8 points per game) and total offense (507.0 yards per game).
“We had some empty drives,” Johnson noted.
During the lull in B-CU’s offense, the Eagles got a 42-yard field goal by kicker Frankie Cardelle with 1:56 left in the first half. Then, Arthur Goforth made it 14-10 with an 8-yard run with 6:01 left in the third quarter.
Later in the third quarter, B-CU’s Johnson finally gave B-CU some breathing room, throwing a 7-yard TD pass to Eddie Poole with 4:27 to go to make it 20-10. The extra point was no good.
“A win is a win,” Jenkins said. “We’ll take it. It was ugly. We didn’t play very well offensively. Thank God for our defense.”
Yeah, coach was being his regular stone-faced self after the hard-fought win. He wasn’t kidding about the defense pulling his team from the fire Saturday.
Again, it was Ryan Lewis, whom anchored the defense and provided sparks, which kept his team ahead. Lewis truly was all over the place Saturday. He was good for an interception and touchdown. But he also had seven tackles to lead the Wildcats. This has been the story all season for the Tampa native. He also had two sacks and forced a fumble halfway through the 4th quarter to halt a NCCU drive. If that wasn’t enough, he hit Eagles quarterback Michael Johnson so hard; he was finished for the afternoon.
Overall, the B-CU defense came up with some big fourth-quarter stops to secure the victory. Reggie Sandilands and Erik Williams each added six tackles. That is not a bad bit of work.
Bethune-Cookman hosts North Carolina A&T Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The game is being televised on ESPNU. I’ll see you on the field.
