BOX SCORE          PHOTO GALLERY

Wingate, N.C.----The Wingate University football team bolted to a 20-0 lead and withstood a Carson-Newman College rally to take a 33-21 South Atlantic Conference victory in Irwin Belk Stadium and John R. Martin Field Saturday afternoon.

The Bulldogs (3-2 overall, 2-0 SAC) earn their first-ever victory over the Eagles (2-3 overall, 0-3 SAC) in Wingate. The defending SAC champions defeated C-N in Monroe (1995) and Jefferson City (2010) before today's conquest.
 
Wingate scored first for only the second time this season. Bulldog senior defensive end Jonathan Simmons (Manhattan, Ill.) did the honors, returning an Eagle fumble 70 yards for a touchdown. Classmate and position mate Jack Taylor (Keystone Heights, Fla.) forced the fumble, giving Wingate an early 6-0 lead at the 3:01 mark of the first quarter.

“(Gaining momentum) was an emphasis for us this week,” Wingate head coach Joe Reich says. “We had a specific plan…to come out with a faster start. We did many things on defense to get out to a faster start.”
 
Bulldog redshirt senior quarterback Cody Haffly (Locust Grove, Ga.) orchestrated a 10-play, 80-yard drive after the C-N Eagles were unsuccessful on a fake field goal. The march ended when Haffly found redshirt freshman wide receiver Bryan Caffrey (Bayside, N.Y.) with a two-yard scoring strike. Wingate redshirt junior place kicker Matthew Sierk (Saluda, N.C.) added the PAT to make the score 13-0 with 6:06 remaining in the second stanza.
 
The hosts would take the 13-0 margin to the halftime locker room. Early in the third frame, Bulldog junior wide receiver Ben Pinkard (Irmo, S.C.) used every inch of the field to score on a 69-yard reverse run. Sierk’s extra point put Wingate up 20-0 with 10:12 to go in the third quarter.
 
Carson-Newman senior running back Nate Inman (Fitzgerald, Ga.) and the Eagles posted two scores in less than three minutes to make things interesting. A three-yard TD run by Inman concluded a nine-play, 63-yard drive. The extra point by junior place kicker Carlos Lopez (Seymour, Tenn.) concluded the four-minute drive.
 
Wingate fumbled three plays later, giving Carson-Newman a short field. Inman responded with an 11-yard scoring run, ending the five-play journey and making the score 20-14 Wingate with 3:16 remaining in the third quarter.
 
The Bulldogs answered, as Haffly connected with junior running back Andrew Nallenweg (Asheville, N.C.) for a 66-yard touchdown. Nallenweg and his blocking mates did much work for his first career TD reception. The two-point try failed, giving Wingate a 26-14 edge with 1:45 left in the third.
 
The two teams traded TDs in the fourth quarter to settle the final margin. Haffly scored on a QB sneak with 11:55 to go. Sierk’s successful PAT gave Wingate a 33-14 lead. C-N sophomore running back Tyron Douglas (Clover, S.C.) concluded the scoring with a three-yard TD run at the 4:43 mark. The Lopez PAT accounted for the last point of the day.
 
Haffly completed 22-of-31 passes for 260 yards and two touchdowns. The Capital One Academic All-America® candidate utilized seven different receivers. Bulldog junior wide receiver Chris Bowden (Forsyth, Ga.) caught five passes for 70 yards. Caffrey, sophomore tight end Brandon Ellington (Wilmington, N.C.) and junior wide receiver Josh Clawson (Clover, S.C.) caught four passes each. Nallenweg rushed 14 times for 53 yards and caught two passes for 67 yards.
 
Inman carried 13 times for 77 yards and two touchdowns for the visitors. Douglas rushed 17 times for 63 yards and one score. Two Eagle quarterbacks combined to complete 10-of-16 passes for 165 yards, but the Bulldog defense withstood the challenge with five QB sacks and five QB hurries.
 
Wingate redshirt junior linebacker Jared Seate (Charlotte, N.C.) notched a game-high 14 tackles. He had one tackle for loss and one shared QB sack. In 2010, Seate forced a fumble on Carson-Newman’s first play in overtime, preserving a 38-35 Wingate victory. Taylor and Simmons had 10 tackles each Saturday. Taylor had 5.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 QB sacks and a forced fumble. Simmons added 1.5 tackles for loss and one QB hurry to his statistical ledger.
 
Eagle senior defensive end Zeke Andrews (Eastman, Ga.) had 10 tackles to lead the C-N defense. He also led the team in tackles for loss (4.5) and QB sacks (2.5). Senior linebacker Ryan Helton (Tazewell, Tenn.) had eight tackles, one tackle for loss, one forced fumble, one pass break-up and one QB hurry. The visiting Eagles matched the home-standing Bulldogs with two forced fumbles.

Wingate visits Mars Hill College Saturday, Oct. 8 for a 1:30 p.m. start. Carson-Newman returns home the same day, hosting Catawba College at 1 p.m. “Mars Hill may be the best team we’ve seen on film,” Reich says. “They are very good. (We have six) good football teams left to play. Our focus must on who’s next…we will take them one day at a time.”

NCAA Division II Box Score (Final)
Carson-Newman vs Wingate (Oct 01, 2011 at Wingate, N.C.)

Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score
-----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
Carson-Newman.......  0  0 14  7  - 21  Record: (2-3 all, 0-3 SAC)
Wingate.............  6  7 13  7  - 33  Record: (3-2 all, 2-0 SAC)

Scoring Summary:
1st 03:01 WIN - Jonathan Simmons 70 fumble recovery (kick failed)
2nd 06:06 WIN - Bryan Caffrey 2 pass from Cody Haffly (Matt Sierk kick)
3rd 10:12 WIN - Ben Pinkard 69 run (Matt Sierk kick)
    05:52 C-N - Nate Inman 3 run (Carlos Lopez kick)
    03:16 C-N - Nate Inman 11 run (Carlos Lopez kick)
    01:45 WIN – Andrew Nallenweg 66 pass from Cody Haffly (run failed)
4th 11:55 WIN - Cody Haffly 1 run (Matt Sierk kick)
    04:43 C-N - Tyron Douglas 3 run (Carlos Lopez kick)

                                    C-N       WU
FIRST DOWNS...................       20       15
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............   54-155   29-106
PASSING YDS (NET).............      165      260
Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  17-10-1  31-22-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   71-320   60-366
Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0     1-70
Punt Returns-Yards............      3-3     1-11
Kickoff Returns-Yards.........     5-96     3-58
Interception Returns-Yards....      0-0      1-0
Punts (Number-Avg)............   5-43.6   5-30.4
Fumbles-Lost..................      4-2      2-2
Penalties-Yards...............     6-31     7-83
Possession Time...............    35:34    24:26
Third-Down Conversions........  2 of 14  5 of 13
Fourth-Down Conversions.......   3 of 5   0 of 2
Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      2-2      3-4
Sacks By: Number-Yards........     3-24     5-24

RUSHING: Carson-Newman-Nate Inman 13-77; Tyron Douglas 17-63; Patrick Miller 1-8; Johnny Foster 23-7. Wingate-Ben Pinkard 1-69; Andrew Nallenweg 14-53; Nestor Lantigua 4-10; Josh Covington 5-1; TEAM 1-minus 4; Cody Haffly 4-minus 23.

PASSING: Carson-Newman-Johnny Foster 7-12-0-101; Brandon Haywood 3-4-0-64; Nate Inman 0-1-1-0. Wingate-Cody Haffly 22-31-0-260.

RECEIVING: Carson-Newman-Patrick Miller 5-92; Anthony Eubanks 4-66; Nate Inman 1-7. Wingate-Chris Bowden 5-70; Brandon Ellington 4-48; Bryan Caffrey 4-40; Josh Clawson 4-17; Andrew Nallenweg 2-67; Marquise Allen 2-10; Ben Pinkard 1-8.