Greeneville, Tenn.----The 16th-ranked Wingate University Bulldogs jumped out to a 21-7 lead Saturday afternoon en route to a 28-21 victory at Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference football action at Pioneer Field. Wingate moves to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the SAC, while the Pioneers fall to 1-4 overall 1-2 in league play.

THOUGHTS FROM JOE REICH

"I think the biggest thing today was people stepping up where we needed them to. We had Alex Stadler stepping up as our third string long snapper after Tucker Mullis got hurt and missed a snap for the first time in three years. We had the blocked punt, Raymond Owens had the scoop and score. Tusculum has always been a tough team for us, especially here in Tusculum. We changed a little bit with how we traveled, we tried to make this trip the best it could be and I think the players responded to that. Tusculum is a really well-coached team and they're very tough on defense. They're starting to turn it on offensively, and I think they're a team to be reckoned with as the rest of the year goes on. They're as good as any team we've seen. This was a good quality win for us at a tough place. Ethan Evans was phenomenal. Talk about doing your job, we told him we want zero return yards. He did his job. His punts and kickoffs were phenomenal. You want to take away what a team does best, and Tusculum's return game is what they are most dangerous at. We wanted to take those guys out of the game, just by doing our job. That was great to see Ethan do such a good job today. Every week we find guys that step and help us win, let's hope we keep it up."

NOTES

- Wingate starts a season 5-0 for the second time in three years
- The Bulldogs are outscoring teams 45-3 in the third quarter this year
- The 'Dogs improve to 15-9 against the Pioneers
- First time in Tusculum history the Pioneers have allowed a block punt for a TD
- WU is 6-7 all-time at Tusculum
- Wingate's first win at Tusculum since 2013
- The Bulldogs have won 11 of the last 16 in the series
- Wingate is now 31-9 since 2016; most wins of any SAC team
- The 'Dogs have won 11 straight regular season games
- WU is outscoring opponents 387-197 in the streak
- Wingate has won 12 of its last 13 contests overall
- The Bulldogs are 4-0 on the road this year
- Wingate has won seven straight regular season road games
- WU has won eight of its last nine road contests overall
- The Bulldogs are a league-best 19-5 in SAC play since 2016

KEY STATS

- Tusculum out-gained Wingate 319-256 on the day
- WU had 128 rushing yards compared to TU's 123 rush yards
- The Pioneers threw for 196 yards while the 'Dogs had 128 passing yards
- Tusculum had the ball for one minute longer than the Bulldogs
- Each team scored touchdowns on both trips to the red zone
- Wingate was one-for-10 on third down; Tusculum went three-for-11
- The 'Dogs piled up six sacks while the Pioneers had a pair of sacks
- Wingate had an interception and blocked a punt; Tusculum did not have a takeaway

KEY BULLDOGS

- Nijere Peoples had 71 rushing yards on 14 carries, scoring a touchdown
- Kalen Clark added 25 rushing yards and a score
- Shaw Crocker was seven-for-14, throwing for 128 yards and a TD
- Jalen Brooks had three catches for 68 yards
- Kamal Desor added a 22-yard TD grab
- Owens returned a block punt for a touchdown
- Robbie Wallace had seven tackles and a sack
- Romario Johnson added six tackles
- Jordon Anderson registered six tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and three QB hurries
- Jesiah Carlton had 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack and two QB hurries
- DJ Horne collected a pair of sacks
- Davion Washington had an interception, two tackles and a pass breakup
- McLean Robertson connected on all four PATs
- Evans averaged 44.4 yards on five punts with a long of 57

FIRST QUARTER

- Wingate forced Tusculum to punt after five plays on its opening drive
- Jaquan Edwards blocked the punt, with Owens picking it up and taking it to the end zone from 30 yards out
- The Bulldogs then put together a five-play, 94-yard drive to take a 14-0 lead
- Crocker hit Brooks for 45 yards to get it into Tusculum territory
- Peoples went for 11 and 10 yards on back-to-back runs, getting it to the TU 22
- Crocker hit Desor on the next play, a 22-yard touchdown to put WU on top by 14
- Tusculum looked to get on the board on the next drive, getting it to the WU 28 yard line
- Washington picked off a pass in the end zone to stop the drive

SECOND QUARTER

- Tusculum went 55 yards on five plays to get on the board
- Tory Ponder ran it in from 15 yards out a minute into the quarter to make it 14-7
- Wingate answered with a nine-play, 71-yard scoring drive
- Crocker scrambled for 16 yards, then hit RaQuan Simmons for 13 yards to get into TU territory
- Crocker found Brooks for 20 yards to get it to the Tusculum 12
- Clark scored from a yard out to put the Bulldogs on top 21-7
- The Pioneers went 50 yards in four plays to get back within a touchdown
- Joaquin Collazo hit Ponder for a 38-yard touchdown to make it 21-14 at halftime

THIRD QUARTER

- A short punt and Tusculum penalty set Wingate up in TU territory
- A seven-yard Peoples run and Tusculum penalty got the 'Dogs in the red zone
- Peoples scored from four yards out to make it 28-14 with 10:51 left in the third quarter

FOURTH QUARTER

- The Pioneers had it fourth and five on the Wingate 19 and went for it
- Collazo hit Jordon Shippy for a 19-yard touchdown to make it 28-21 with 9:04 to go
- Wingate chewed up six minutes of clock on its next drive, giving it back to TU at its own 10 with 3:05 left
- The 'Dogs forced four straight incomplete passes, with pressure coming from Carlton and Anderson

UP NEXT

- Wingate begins a three-game home stand Saturday at 6 p.m. against Limestone
- The 'Dogs host UNC Pembroke the following Saturday at 6 p.m.
- The home stand wraps up Oct. 26 against UVA-Wise on Homecoming at 6 p.m.
- Every home game will air on ESPN3 this season