Football 10/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Fighting Tigers upset No. 10 Shorter

Box Score ROME, Ga. - Campbellsville University was given a national stage Thursday night in Rome, Ga., and didn't waste the opportunity, knocking off No. 10 Shorter College, 42-28, in the NAIA National Game of the Week. The win was only the second for the Fighting Tigers this decade over a Top 10 team.

"This is a huge win for our program. You're talking not only about coming in here and beating a Top 10 team, but coming into their house and winning in a nationally promoted game. We've been close against these Top 10 teams, but have not been able to win it. This gives our guys added confidence that we can get it done when we do things right," CU head coach Perry Thomas said.

Campbellsville University jumped out to a 25-7 halftime lead in the NAIA Game of the Week at No. 10 Shorter College. The Tigers capped a 69-yard opening drive with a 21-yard field goal by David Hon to take a 3-0 lead and extended the lead on their next drive with an 8-yard touchdown run by freshman Dy'lan Underwood. An extra point, lengthened by a penalty, was missed wide, giving Campbellsville a 9-0 lead.

Alex Zimmerman lifts Nathan Cooper in the end zone after Cooper's fourth-quarter touchdown.

Shorter's A.J. Cooley answered on the second play of the ensuing drive by weaving through the Tiger defense for a 64-yard touchdown run to cut the score down, 9-7. But it didn't take long for Campbellsville to respond, as Georgia native Harold Small took the kickoff 100 yards down the Tiger sideline for a touchdown, breaking the five-year school record for longest kick return of 93 yards. The Tigers' two-point attempt failed, as CU led, 15-7.

"I don't know how I got through that. It was skill and blockers," said Small, who was recruited by Shorter but not offered a scholarship. He finished with 137 return yards in the game.

Thomas said the return was no surprise.

"We had a good look at it. Harold's an exceptional athlete. When he gets in open field he can do some special things. He's a Georgia kid we kind of stole from this area and obviously it's paying dividends for us," Thomas said.

The Tigers tacked on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Nathan Cooper to Calvin Mann and a 24-yard field goal by Hon as time expired in the half.

Shorter opened the second half scoring with a 42-yard touchdown run by Antwon Appleton. The Tigers answered with a 30-yard field goal by Hon to tie the school record for field goals in a game at three.

Shorter was driving into Tiger territory late in the third quarter, but Dwight Houston stopped Cooley and the drive at the Tiger 35 on the first play of the fourth quarter on fourth-and-3. Three plays later, Hill rolled out of the pocket on third down and found an open Michael Johnson breaking across the field at the Hawk 30 on his way to a 73-yard touchdown catch, giving CU a little distance, 35-21. The pass was the longest made by a CU quarterback since 2002 and pushed the Tigers over 300 yards passing for the first time this year.

The Hawks refused to lie down though, taking the ball 62 yards in seven plays, capped by a 2-yard touchdown by Cooley to knock the Tiger lead back to seven, 35-28.

Cooper decided to take the Tigers' next drive into his own hands after Hill exited due to injury. A 41-yard pass to Mann set up a 23-yard touchdown run up the middle by Cooper to put him over 300 yards total offense in the game. And distance the lead, 42-28, with five minutes to play.

"Teams don't expect me to run the ball. They know I'm going to pass the ball. They know when Rob comes in, he's going to run the ball. Tonight we switched that around. The line did an amazing job. I had huge holes up there," Cooper said.

For the game, Cooper tossed 273 yards and a touchdown on 21 passes. He and Hill combined for 346 yards, the third most in school history.

"It's huge. I'm not a big statistics person. I'm glad we won the game. It's huge to knock off a No. 10 team, but it's always nice to have those extra stats though," Cooper said.

With 2:50 to play, Michael McCubbin picked off Williams to seal the win and snap Shorter's five-game win streak at home in Barron Stadium.

The Tigers racked up 524 yards of offense, while Shorter had 401.

"Coach (Chris) Pardue and them had a great game plan and got them out of their style of defense. I thought our guys ran crisp routes, which was huge because we've been so banged up and have a lot of replacements in there. We went in this week and slowed up the game plan and it paid dividends tonight," Thomas said.

Campbellsville (3-2) hosts the University of Virginia-Wise on Oct. 10 at 2 p.m. for homecoming.

WATCH THE REPLAY

PHOTO GALLERY - FIRST HALF

PHOTO GALLERY -SECOND HALF

STATISTICS

ROME NEWS-TRIBUNE VIDEO AND PHOTOS

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