Twelfth-ranked University of the Cumberlands maintained its lead in the Mid-South Conference East on Saturday, shutting down No. 24 Campbellsville University, 21-6, in Williamsburg, Ky.
 

CU entered Saturday's road trip a half game back of Cumberlands in the MSC East, but the two-time MSC East Division defending champs defended their muddy, home turf on senior day with a pair of second quarter touchdowns and a kick return for a score in the third.

"They're just better than us right now," CU head coach Perry Thomas said. "We didn't help ourselves with some misreads in the first half … We just lost to a better team."

Campbellsville managed to hold the No. 2 rushing defense in the NAIA to less than 200 yards on the ground, but struggled to find a rhythm of its own. Despite being slowed a bit, Cumberlands found ways to keep drives alive, such as converting all three fourth downs faced. Each three plays helped set up Patriot touchdowns in the second quarter.

The first two fourth down plays came just outside the Tiger redzone early in the second quarter. Cohleach Holmes had a 2-yard carry to keep the drive alive at the CU 22 with 11 minutes to go in the first half. After three incomplete passes, Patriot quarterback picked up 15 yards and a first down with a quarterback keeper to the 7 on fourth-and-10. The drive-extending play set up Cumberlands' first touchdown, a 7-yard run by Tyler Paschal.

With three minutes to go in the half, UC converted another fourth down, this time with eight yards to go, as Just Pritchett broke to the sideline for 16 yards and a Patriot first down at the Tiger 22 after being pushed out of bounds by Henri Baynham-Baker. Pritchett moved the ball inside the 5 on the next play to set up a 3-yard pass from Bright to Willie Gibson with 14 seconds left to play in the game.

Campbellsville went into the half with 77 yards of offense to Cumberlands' 164.

Cumberlands drove to the Tiger 10 midway through the third quarter, but the drive stalled out with a missed field goal by Justin Dyer, who was 3-of-3 on extra points. Campbellsville continued to shut down the Patriot offense in the second half, holding them to 38 yards. The Tigers won the offensive stat line in the game, out-gaining Cumberlands 206-202.

 

Dwight Houston recovers a fumble.

"I thought with some adjustments and if we could get some guys focused on their role we could defense them in the second half, and we did that," Thomas said.

Campbellsville's six points came toward the end of the third after Dwight Houston fell on a fumble that he and Jeffrey DeMary forced on a sack. Tiger quarterback Nathan Cooper drove CU 56 yards on six plays and scored on a 5-yard quarterback keeper with 2:36 to play in the quarter, cutting the score to 14-6. David Hon's extra point attempt was blocked.

Cumberlands answered with a 75-yard kickoff return touchdown by Gibson for its final score of the game.

"All the momentum you've got, and that just deflates you," Thomas said of the return.

Both teams were flat in the fourth, as Cumberlands held onto its lead in the Mid-South and moved to 8-1 on the year.

Campbellsville (5-4, 3-4) looks to keep its playoff hopes alive as it hosts Union College next week, and then travels to Pikeville College on Nov. 14 to close the regular season.

"The big thing is we just have to go back and focus on the mistakes we made and understand why (Cumberlands) was able to execute in the times they did," Thomas said. "There's still two big games left this season, and if you win those you never know where you'll fall, but if you lose those you know where you fall. We need to go back to work to get those wins and hopefully still be a part of the playoff picture."

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