Huntingdon finishes unbeaten in USA South

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon football team was on guard against a letdown on Saturday.

A week after winning the first conference championship in program history, the Hawks had one more goal to reach as they closed out conference play. With a 44-13 win over Averett University, Huntingdon ended its third season in the USA South Athletic Conference with a 7-0 conference record.

"It's an amazing feeling to finish undefeated in the conference," senior offensive lineman Chael Pridgen said. "The past couple of years, we've come close but we haven't been able to do it. This year we had a humbling experience with the loss at Birmingham-Southern. That got our attention and made us realize how much we didn't want to lose again."

Since the one-point loss to Birmingham-Southern in the second week of the season, Huntingdon has won eight straight games. At 9-1, this is the winningest season in the 13-year history of Huntingdon football. Huntingdon's previous record for wins in a season was eight in 2008 and 2009.

"We set several goals for ourselves this season," Huntingdon head coach Mike Turk said. "Winning the conference was one goal and going undefeated in the conference was another goal. We've tried to treat every game this season like it was a conference championship. We continued to remind ourselves of that this week.

"Even though we had clinched the championship, we had not completed the task we set out for. After a big win last week, there was some concern about a letdown, but the guys on this team have a spirit about them. They were ready to play. That says a lot about why we are in the position we are in."

Huntingdon is in the Division III playoffs for just the second time and the first time since 2009. The Hawks will learn more about their playoff future on Sunday when the NCAA playoff brackets are released.

"Today's win means a lot. Our team had a goal to finish undefeated in the conference and we reached that goal today," senior defensive back Anthony White said. "Now that the regular season is over and the playoffs are here, it's exciting. This is something we've all wanted to be a part of. But we can't get complacent. We want to keep winning and go as far as we can."

Against Averett (2-7, 2-4 USA South), the Hawks took a few minutes to get going on offense but quickly took control and led 37-0 at the end of three quarters.

Quarterback Luke Bailey threw for 201 yards and two touchdowns in the first half and finished the game with 246 yards and three touchdowns on a 12-for-21 day. Receiver Nick Haas had a career day with seven catches for 152 yards and two touchdowns. Haas had six receptions for 118 yards in the first half.

Leading 7-0 in the second quarter, Bailey connected with Diggan Andre for a 57-yard touchdown strike and hit Haas for a 13-yard touchdown pass to make it a 21-0 game at halftime.

In the third quarter, running back Vic Jerald broke free for a 45-yard touchdown run and Bailey and Hass connected on a 34-yard touchdown. Haas' second touchdown made it 34-0 early in the third quarter. Jerald led the Huntingdon ground game with 96 yards on nine carries.

Special teams accounted for the Hawks' other points. On the opening possession of the game, freshman Vincent Lee blocked and recovered an Averett punt for a touchdown. White closed the scoring in the fourth quarter when he returned an attempted onside kick 45 yards for a touchdown.

Freshman kicker Chase Young kicked a 29-yard field goal in the third quarter and kicked five extra points. His final extra point of the game was his 56th of the season, tying the Huntingdon and USA South Athletic Conference record set by David Ballard in 2013.

Defensively, Austin Washington had six tackles and an interception for the Hawks and Trey Hayes, Lake Romine and Jake Green each had five tackles. Hayes, a freshman linebacker, also had three tackles for loss. White picked off his seventh pass of the season and now has 13 career interceptions.