HICKORY, N.C. - It was a tale of two halves in Hickory on Saturday, as the Bears saw their 28-3 halftime lead turn into a 28-28 rock fight in the fourth quarter. Luckily for the Bears
Daniel Deneen Jr. kicked a 32-yard field goal straight through the uprights to give the Bears the 31-28 victory.
This was a revenge game for the Bears as Emory & Henry took down LR 31-20 last year in Virginia.
"Love the finish! We learned a lot from this game and we'll keep building from here," said Head Coach
Doug Socha.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: #21 Lenoir-Rhyne 31, Emory & Henry 28
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (2-1, 2-0 SAC), Emory & Henry (2-1, 1-1 SAC)
Location: Hickory, N.C. | Moretz Stadium
STORY OF THE GAME:
- Lenoir-Rhyne got off to an electric start, as Khamoni Robinson broke out for an 83-yard rushing touchdown on the first play of the game.
- The Bears thought they had another electric touchdown on the first play of their second drive, but LJ Turner's 73-yard rushing touchdown was called back to the LR 44-yard line due to his foot being out of bounds.
- Robinson hit Zion Agnew for a 38-yard touchdown a few plays later to extend the Bears' lead to 14-0 just five minutes into the game.
- On the very next drive, Robinson rushed for an 18-yard touchdown to put LR up three scores, 21-0, at the end of the first.
- After a Wasp field goal, Lenoir-Rhyne answered with a Zayvion Turner-Knox rushing touchdown on their next drive, making it 28-3 at the half.
- The tide turned in the second half, as Emory & Henry scored 25 unanswered points to tie the game at 28-28 wth five minutes left in the game.
- Due to an injury to Robinson, freshman Wells Bettenhausen came in and led the Bears on a game winning drive, completing four passes and rushing for a first down to set up Daniel Deneen Jr. for the game winning kick.
STATS OF THE GAME:
- Khamoni Robinson went 10-for-17 with 180 passing yards and 154 yards on the ground. He finished with three total touchdowns and one interception.
- Zayvion Turner-Knox finished with 39 rushing yards and a touchdown.
- Songa Yates led the Bears with four receptions for 98 yards, while Zion Agnrew had five catches for 68 yards and a score.
- The Bears defense was extremely balanced, with five players registering five tackles. Maddox Aprile led with 2.5 TFL for 16 yards while Royce Turner had a 20-yard interception return.
- Desmond Greene finished with three tackles and three pass breakups.
- Daniel Deneen Jr. hit the game winning field goal and was 4-for-4 on extra point attempts.
BEYOND THE STATS:
- The Bears are now 8-2 all-time against Emory & Henry, with this being their first win vs. the Wasps in SAC play.
- Khamoni Robinson's 154 rushing yards are the most in a game for a Lenoir-Rhyne quarterback since Miles Freeman rushed for 179 against Wingate in 2013.
- Songa Yates now has 1,580 receiving yards and is just 200 yards away from entering the Lenoir-Rhyne career top ten.
- The Bears are now the only SAC school with two conference victories.
Lenoir-Rhyne will have a tough matchup next week when they travel to Jefferson City, Tenn., to take on Carson-Newman. The #24 ranked Eagles are 1-1 and fell 31-24 in overtime to Mars Hill earlier today. Kickoff for next week's matchup is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET.