McKENZIE, Tenn. – Looking to end the season on a high note, the Campbellsville University football team could not avoid mistakes as they fell to Bethel University 63-28 to close out a 1-9 2019 football season.
Before they could even blink, the Tigers found themselves down 21-0 in under seven minutes of game time after an opening drive touchdown for the Wildcats and fumbles on the first two drives of the game for CU.
After a four-play, 64-yard drive that was capped by a 45-yard TD run from quarterback Christian Arrambide from BU to open play, Campbellville suffered a first play fumble on their opening drive by Ormani Zanders to give the Wilcats the ball right back in the red zone.
Another touchdown run by Arrambide made it 14-0 as the Tigers looked to drive with true freshman quarterback
Joshua Meglis making his first appearance of his career. Meglis got the start after both
Talaileva Sufia and
Chase Wilson suffered injuries against Cumberland University last weekend at Finley Stadium.
Meglis, unfortunately, didn't get off to the hot start he wanted as CU did pick up a couple of first downs on the next drive but he fumbled on a five-yard rush as Bethel scooped it up and returned it 35 yards to the Campbellsville 22 yard line.
Two plays later, Arrambide threw his first touchdown pass of the day on a 24-yard strike to Dieuly Aristilde to make it 21-0 with 8:03 left to go in the first quarter.
The Tigers answered back with an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped off by a Dakari Highsmith 17-yard touchdown run to cut into the lead with 4:32 left to go in the first.
But then it was another connection between Arrambide and Aristilde, this time for 46 yards as the CU defense just did not have an answer for the Wildcat offense in the first quarter, ending the period with a 28-7 lead for BU.
Another score on the ground for Campbellsville early in the second quarter made it a 14-point game again at 28-14 after Zanders punched in a four-yard run but this time it was the Bethel special teams, keeping their lead comfortable.
On the ensuing kickoff, J'Kobi Reddick fielded the kick on their own five yard line and took it all the way to the end zone for a 95-yard kickoff return to pad the lead to 35-14 in no time at all.
Arrambide kept up his strong offensive performance in the first half with another long touchdown completion as he hit Caleb Nelson on a 33-yard score to add more cushion at 42-14.
CU wouldn't go away quietly in the half, however, as Meglis got his first-career touchdown pass to the Tigers' all-time leader in receiving yards,
Kendon Young, on a 12-yard touchdown with 3:36 remaining in the first half.
That would be the score going into the locker room as the third quarter was a rather uneventful half overall but did see Campbellsville bring it back to within a two-score game at 42-28 after another Meglis to Young TD pass, as they scored on a long 77-yard completion with under a minute to go in the third quarter.
The Wildcats kept the Tigers off the board in the fourth though as they would add three more touchdown scores to help finish the game off with the 63-28 final score. Their first fourth quarter score came off of another Campbellsville fumble as they recovered all four Cu fumbles and turned all four into touchdowns in the game.
Meglis finished his first-career appearance and start going 10-for-28 for 195 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Young finished with six receptions for 162 yards and two touchdowns while being targeted 15 times in the ballgame.
On the season, Campbellsville finishes with that 1-9 record after the season-ending loss to Bethel. One win is the lowest total for CU in the
Perry Thomas era and Campbellsville's worst record since their 0-10 season in 2007, the year before Thomas was brought on as the head coach of Fighting Tiger football.
