Wingate, N.C.----Carson-Newman College senior running back Buck Wakefield (Drummonds, Tenn.) rushed for a school-record 303 yards and two touchdowns to lead the 18th-ranked Eagle football team to a 45-7 victory over Wingate Saturday afternoon in South Atlantic Conference action at Irwin Belk Stadium and John R. Martin Field.

With the victory, the Eagles (8-2 overall, 6-0 SAC) clinch their 21st SAC title and extend their winning streak to eight games. Wingate falls to 6-3 on the season and 4-2 in the SAC.

Wakefield has now rushed for 685 and 10 touchdowns on 51 carries in four career games against the Bulldogs, averaging 13.4 yards per carry. The Eagles amassed 657 yards of total offense on the day with 496 yards on the ground and 161 through the air.

Carson-Newman senior signal caller Alex Good (Greensboro, N.C.) completed six-of-11 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Eagles’ passing attack. He also added 61 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Wingate redshirt sophomore quarterback Cody Haffly (Locust Grove, Ga.) completed 19-of-37 passes for 280 yards and one touchdown. Haffly’s favorite target Saturday was redshirt junior wide receiver Philip Thomas (Saint Pauls, N.C.), who caught six passes for 102 yards and one score.

Haffly and redshirt senior quarterback James Hall (Concord, N.C.) combined for 330 passing yards, but the Bulldogs lost the turnover battle 3-1. Wingate entered the contest as the number two team on the NCAA Division II turnover margin charts with a plus-14 rating.

Good’s first touchdown pass was a 53-yard scoring strike to senior wide receiver Charles Dobson (Umatilla, Fla.) on the fourth play of the game. Later in the first frame, Good orchestrated a 10-play, 53-yard drive to set up a 31-yard field goal by sophomore place kicker Carlos Lopez (Seymour, Tenn.).

Early in the second quarter, Good moved his troops on an 11-play, 79-yard campaign that resulted in a three-yard scoring scamper by senior running back Ricky Harris (Perry, Ga.) at the 13:20 mark. The Lopez extra point gave the visiting C-N Eagles 17-0 lead.

Wingate got on the scoreboard later in the second quarter, as the Bulldogs marched 80 yards on six plays to find pay dirt. Haffly finished the drive with a 42-yard scoring strike to Thomas. Bulldog redshirt junior place kicker RP Lopez (Lakeland, Fla.) added the PAT to make the score 17-7 with 4:23 remaining in the second quarter.

On the next play from scrimmage, Wakefield scored the first of his two touchdowns with a 68-yard bolt to the end zone. Good and Dobson made a 56-yard scoring connection on the Eagles’ next series to push the Carson-Newman lead to 31-7. After Wingate fumbled the ensuing kick-off, Good engineered one additional first half scoring drive. He called his own number on the final play, as he posted a seven-yard TD run with 13 seconds remaining in the opening half. As a result, the Eagles went to the locker room with a 38-7 advantage.

Wakefield scored the only touchdown after intermission when he recorded a 64-yard scoring run with 56 seconds to play in the third quarter. In addition to his 303 rushing yards, Wakefield caught two Good passes for 36 yards.

Wingate posted 373 yards total offense on the day, but the Eagle defense held the Bulldogs out of the end zone with two goal-line stands. Carson-Newman had three fourth-down stops for the game. Wingate entered the game as the SAC leader in fourth-down conversions with 10-of-15 successes.

The Bulldogs honored 21 seniors in a pre-game ceremony Saturday. With last week’s Catawba triumph, Wingate’s senior class sets a school record with its 29th career victory. In addition to the pre-game festivities, four new Wingate University Sports Hall of Fame members were recognized at halftime.

Baseball first baseman Jeremy Byers (class of 1995), men’s soccer standout Kirk Calvert (class of 1971), softball pitcher Angela Curlew Lampley (class of 1999) and basketball power forward Andrea McCloud (class of 1982) joined 64 other Bulldog luminaries in the University’s Sports Hall of Fame during a Saturday morning ceremony.

Wingate completes the 2009 regular season Saturday, climbing the mountain for a 1:30 p.m. contest at Mars Hill College. Carson-Newman closes out the regular season the same day, hosting next-door neighbor Tusculum College for a 1 p.m. league contest.