Hawks take down conference power Christopher Newport

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon football team picked up a key USA South Athletic Conference win on Saturday with a 51-31 victory over Christopher Newport.

The Hawks (4-2, 3-1 USA South) built an 18-point lead in the first half and led by as many as 28 points in the second half as they handed the Captains (3-3, 3-1 USA South) their first conference loss of the season.

This was the first meeting between the two programs. For CNU, which has never had a losing season in its 14-year history and has won or shared nine USA South titles since 2001, this was just the 17th conference loss in program history.

"This was a big win against a traditional conference power," Huntingdon head coach Mike Turk said. "Whenever you play a team for the first time, there are going to be some unknowns. But we knew they had a good team, we knew about their tradition and we knew we had to come out ready to play. Our guys gave us a great effort on both sides of the ball.

"Now, we have to press the reset button, go back to work and get ready for the next conference game. We have to focus on the task at hand each week and each day. We have to keep doing the things that will help us get better each game."

The win creates a four-way tie for first in the USA South standings with Huntingdon, CNU, Maryville and North Carolina Wesleyan. All four teams are 3-1 in the conference.

"This was a huge win," senior linebacker Zach Brownell said. "We knew we would have to play our best and our coaches had us prepared. We were flying around on defense, the offense had another big game and we picked up an important conference win.

"But each conference game is important and we still have work to do. We have to come back to practice and get ready for Ferrum next week."

The Hawks travel to Ferrum next week for a 12 p.m. game.

The Huntingdon defense held CNU 70 yards below its season-average for total offense. The Captains finished with 355 yards on 67 plays.

Brownell, who is averaging 11.8 tackles per game this season, led the Hawks with nine tackles, two sacks, four tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. Linebackers Jake Green and Jacob Wright each had seven tackles.

"The defense was solid all day," Turk said. "CNU has some good players and we knew they would try to grind it out if we gave them an opportunity. We didn't shut down their running game, but we did contain it."

Offensively, sophomore quarterback Luke Bailey had a hand in Huntingdon's first four touchdowns on Saturday. In just his fourth collegiate start, Bailey finished the day 20-for-27 for a career-high 371 yards and four touchdowns and also ran for 45 yards on six carries.

"Every week is important and we're gaining confidence and trying to get better each game," Bailey said. "Our defense is playing lights out right now and has made a big difference for us. For the offense, we're preparing every week and I'm fortunate to be surrounded by so many great playmakers."

Bailey capped the opening possession of the game with a 2-yard touchdown run, a little more than three minutes into the game. On the Hawks' second possession, Bailey connected with Darius Dawsey for a 33-yard touchdown pass.

A CNU fumble, caused by freshman defensive lineman Parker Allen and recovered by Brownell, set up the Hawks' third touchdown as Bailey hit Brantley Carr for a 28-yard touchdown with 1:29 left in the first quarter.

Leading 21-10 in the second quarter, Bailey found Jonathan Williams for a 2-yard touchdown play. After a 23-yard field goal by Jimbo Turk, the Hawks took a 31-17 lead into the half. Turk finished the game 6-for-7 on extra points.

In the third quarter, sophomore Jay Ware scored on a 2-yard run and Bailey connected with Zach Camp on a 31-yard touchdown play to make it 45-17 after three quarters. Senior running back Aaron Cox capped the Hawks' scoring with an 11-yard run in the fourth quarter.

The Hawks finished with a season-high 564 yards of offense. Sophomore John Iwaniec led the ground game with 79 yards rushing and Ware added 63 yards. Sophomore Nick Haas finished with five receptions for a game-high 116 yards and junior Jamichael Bibb had six receptions for 93 yards.