CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – It was a night of goal-line stands and blocked kicks, as Campbellsville University fell short in its comeback try against the Union College Bulldogs. The Tigers scored and recovered an onside kick with a little more than three minutes to play, but a missed extra point and blocked field goal in the final seconds left the Bulldogs on top, 14-13, at Citizens Bank Field and Finley Stadium.

 

"We're making improvements and making strides, but once again we can't mistakes," CU head coach Perry Thomas said. "We have to continue to get better in every phase and put it together."

Union did not waste any time finding the end zone en route to its first win of the season. The Bulldogs capped a nine-play, 78-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown run with 7:29 remaining in the first quarter.

Darius Skinner gave the Tigers a spark with a 66-yard kickoff return to Union's 34, but the drive stalled when Eric Krivitsky's low-driving field goal was blocked by Keon Daniels. It was the first of three blocked kicks on the night between the two teams.

Campbellsville found the end zone late in the second quarter when freshman tailback Chris Cook found the end zone on a 1-yard run to cap an 80-yard drive. Cook had four straight carries on the drive, including a 34-yard dash to the Bulldog 1.

Krivitsky had a chance to give the Tigers a lead entering halftime, but missed wide left from 35 yards out, keeping it tie, 7-7, at the break. Union's Jared Miller previously missed a 36-yard try in the quarter.

In the second half, Union struck again on its first possession. Brinkley connected on a 27-yard pass to Brown. It appeared that Nick Reed had made a tackle on the Tigers' 10 and the CU defense let up, but Brown kept moving into the end zone for a 14-7 lead.

Union looked to break the game open late in the third, as Brinkley connected with Tyler Ross on an 84-yard pass to the Tiger 8. CU's red zone defense stood strong, as Brendan Walker stood up Brinkley on a fourth-and-goal attempt at the goal line. On the Bulldogs' next try, Brown found an opening and was looking for his third touchdown, when Tiger linebacker Blake Young chased him down for an open-field tackle at the CU 8. The 47-yard run set up another first-and-goal for Union, which stalled with three more tackles by Young. Rico Dickerson blocked Miller's field goal try and his roommate Coty Eanes returned it 37 yards to the CU 38.

Eanes' return helped set up a 15-play drive, which ate up more than seven minutes of the fourth quarter. Robert Hill and Seth McFerrin marched the Tigers down field for another goal-line stand. Once again, Cook punched in a 1-yard score. However, Krivitsky's extra point missed wide, leaving Union celebrating.

The Tigers weren't done yet, as Krivitsky executed an onside kick for Young to recover at the Tiger 46. CU again marched down field to set up a 22-yard field goal try for Casey Clarke of London, England. The first-ever field goal attempt for the former Tiger soccer star was blocked by Bert Brown with one second remaining.

Hill, who played most of the night at quarterback for CU, finished the game 13-of-25 passing with 124 yards. He also ran for 46. McFerrin led the Tigers' ground game with 75 yards. CU used three QBs in the game, as Parnes started and went 3-for-4 with 38 yards, but minus 16 on the ground. Will Warf came in on short yardage plays and had eight yards on five carries. He was 0-for-1 passing.

For Union, Brinkley was 14-of-21 with one interception and 263-yard passing. Now 2-2 against CU, he is the first Union quarterback to win at Campbellsville since 1995.

CU falls to 0-2 on the season for the first time since the 2008 season. The Tigers recovered from its lowest offensive production in 48 games last week by posting 326 yards and a game-high 20 first downs. The Tigers' offense also improved on third- and fourth-down conversions, converting 9-of-19 on third down and a perfect 3-for-3 on fourth.

"I thought our guys fought hard. Offensively, we had a better gat me this week than last week. We saw a great deal of improvement. Defensively, we kept them out of the end zone but had too many conversions on third down. I thought our kicking game was sound except for our extra points and field goals, and that came back to haunt us," Thomas said.

"Our guys just have to keep getting better. We're going to play a better team next week than what we've faced the past two weeks."

CU (0-2) will return home to Finley Stadium next Saturday, Sept. 15 to host preseason No. 11 Bethel University (0-2) at 7 p.m. EDT. At halftime of the game, the Tigers will induct former head coach Ron Finley and members of the 1987 and 1988 football teams into the CU Athletics Hall of Fame.

Live coverage of the game will be provided on WLCU-TV (Comcast Cable channel 10), WLCUtv.com and WLCU 88.7 FM. For more information, visit CampbellsvilleTigers.com.


STATS


OTHER COMMENTS FROM COACH THOMAS

On the Tigers' Defensive Performance
Our guys understand how to crank it down in the red zone. We spend a lot of time in practice working on that, just like we do on third downs. That's probably one of the two most frustrating thing for me tonight. We didn't do a good job on third downs tonight. Sometimes it was communication and other times with position. Also, the situation where we thought we had a young man tackled and he winds up getting in the end zone. We stopped before the whistle. Everyone thought he was down. We fly to the ball. One of our number one goals is getting to the ball and we do a good job of that. On that particular play, we let up because we thought he was down, but you can't let up. You have to run to the ball until the whistle is blown. Those two things frustrate me more than anything, because they are points of emphasis for us.

On the Tigers' Special Teams
I thought we played good special teams tonight. The only hindrance we had tonight was our extra point and field goal teams. The onsides was the best I've ever seen. You couldn't get a cleaner kick. Eric put it in the right spot, and Blake was in the right spot. Also, the last couple of years we've been good at blocking field goals and extra points, and they've come up big for us both years. I thought he was going to return that thing, but they made a play and we were able to take it down for a score.