Huntingdon hangs on for Homecoming win against Battling Bishops

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Linebacker Jake Green picked off a North Carolina Wesleyan pass with less than three minutes to play to help the Huntingdon football team preserve a 45-40 Homecoming win on Saturday.

The Hawks (3-1, 1-0 USA South) built an 18-point lead early in the second half of their conference opener before the Battling Bishops (0-4, 0-1 USA South) rallied to pull within a touchdown twice in the final 16 minutes.

North Carolina Wesleyan cut it to four points with 58 seconds left in the third quarter before Huntingdon answered with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Luke Bailey to Jaytarius Steele to make it 45-34.

The Battling Bishops made it 45-40 on a 46-yard touchdown pass with 7:36 to play in the game. The two-point conversion attempt was broken up by Green. After a Huntingdon drive ended with a missed 39-yard field goal, the Battling Bishops got the ball back with 3:48 to play.

On third down, Green ended the threat with an interception at the North Carolina Wesleyan 37-yard line. From there, the Hawks were able to run out the clock.

"It was pretty wild today. Our conference is like most conferences, you better be ready to play every week or someone is going to be ready to get you," Huntingdon head coach Mike Turk said. "I'm proud of the guys for sticking together and doing what we had to do to win. Our defense gave up a lot of points today, but at the end when we needed a stop, we got a takeaway and were able to run out the clock.

"We still have a lot of things we have to clean up and improve on, but when it's all said and done, we got the win and we'll take it. Hats off to North Carolina Wesleyan, they came in here with a great plan and they gave us all we wanted, and then some."

The two teams traded touchdowns early in the game and were tied 14-14 early in the second quarter when the Hawks began to pull ahead. An 89-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Willie Coleman, a 5-yard touchdown run by John Iwaniec and a 28-yard field goal by Chase Young put Huntingdon in front 31-20 at the half.

Mark White's 4-yard touchdown reception from Bailey early in the third quarter gave the Hawks a 38-20 lead. But the lead dwindled late in the second half as the Battling Bishops scored three touchdowns in a span of 15 minutes in the third and fourth quarters.

Coleman's 89-yard kickoff return was the second longest return in program history and just the fifth kickoff return for a touchdown in Hawks' history. He finished with 132 yards on two kick returns for the second best single-game performance by a Hawk.

Receiver Nick Haas opened the day's scoring with a 73-yard touchdown reception from Bailey. It was tied for the eighth longest passing play in program history. Three receivers finished with at least 70 yards on the day. Steele, a freshman, had six catches for 70 yards and a touchdown, Jamichael Bibb had four catches for 73 yards and Haas had three receptions for 79 yards and the score.

Bailey finished with 296 yards, three touchdowns and an interception on an 18-of-26 day. He also rushed for 37 yards and a touchdown. Running back John Iwaniec led the ground game with 99 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries.

Iwaniec and Bailey are both among the leaders in the USA South this season. Iwaniec is second in the conference with 437 yards rushing and leads the conference with eight touchdowns. Bailey leads the USA South with 11 touchdown passes and is second with 1,058 passing yards.

Defensively, linebacker Jacob Wright led the Hawks with 10 tackles, four tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble. Green had nine tackles and the game-saving interception. Defensive back Brendon Brown added eight tackles.

Freshman kicker Chase Young was 6-for-6 on extra points and 1-for-2 on field goals.

Huntingdon returns to action next week at Ferrum (1-3, 1-0 USA South). Due to construction on Ferrum's field, the game is scheduled to be played at Bassett High School in Bassett, Va.