COLUMBIA, Ky. – A tale of two halves was the story of the night for both the Campbellsville University football team and the Battle of Highway 55 rivalry game Thursday night.
Lindsey Wilson ended out on top 40-24 after a strong third quarter surge from the Tigers got it within three points, the Blue Raiders scored all 13 points of the fourth to put the game away.
The second half got off to a bang on both sides as the Blue Raiders took the ball down the field on their first possession and scored on a fourth down quarterback draw from Cameron Dukes as they pushed their lead to 20-3.
Then after a rough first half from starting quarterback
Chris Lubinsky, CU went to
Chase Wilson to start the second half and Wilson gave the Tigers a jolt of energy immediately.
Wilson led the offense on a nine-play, 83-yard touchdown drive in 2:55 as Campbellsville got their first touchdown of the year on a 13-yard rush by
Kendon Young to make it a 11-point game.
That followed a fourth down stop by the Tiger defense to hold some momentum before Wilson went back to work. This time it was a seven-play, 74-yard drive in 3:03 as he ran the touchdown in himself on a one-yard run at the goal line.
With the game now within three, Lindsey Wilson fired right back with a long 62-yard touchdown pass from Dukes to Joshua Lewis to get a 10-point lead right back with 1:12 left in the third quarter.
CU didn't end the quarter quietly as
Ziyon Kenner took the ensuing kick 52 yards into LWC territory then followed up with a 20-yard catch from Wilson to get them near the red zone.
It was another 20-yard strike for the score as Wilson hit tight end
Zachary Cole, who was wide open down the seam as he backpedaled into the end zone to make it a three-point game again at 27-24.
The fourth quarter was all Blue Raiders though as they scored 13 unanswered points to pull away and eventually win by the 40-24 final score. The big turning point in the fourth was a CU fumble as they were driving down nine points with about 10 minutes left in the game.
Turnovers hurt the Tigers as Lindsey Wilson scored on all three Campbellsville turnovers as they fumbled twice and threw an interception that resulted in 13 total LWC points.
The first half was a bit of a defensive battle between the two rivals as both teams were held under 200 yards of total offense.
A pair of big plays from the Youngs pushed Campbellsville to their only score of the half as Kendon took a kickoff 50 yards to set the Tigers up in LWC territory. On the very next play, Keanu took a sweep handoff down the right sideline for a 41-yard gain to give CU a first and goal situation.
CU wouldn't punch in a touchdown, but
Noah Bicksler hit a 23-yard field goal to tie the score at 3-3 at the time.
The Blue Raiders got on the board first on a short field after Lubinsky's first pass of the game was picked off by James Todd and returned to the CU 14 yard line. The Campbellsville defense picked their quarterback up and stopped the LWC offense to force a field goal.
The Tigers got pinned back near their endzone later in the first quarter when a nice punt return from Lindsey Wilson's Jay Gaudlock set them up on the CU 38. Two plays later Dukes hit Terrill Cole Jr. for a 25-yard touchdown pass to take a 10-3 lead.
Cole was a go-to target for the Blue Raiders in the first half as he caught four passes for 60 yards as the leading receiver in the half.
Campbellsville's offense looked to be making a stride early in the second quarter when Lubinsky hit
Kendon Young on a third down play that looked to pick up a first down. Unfortunately for CU, Young fumbled as he was going down and gave LWC another short field on the Campbellsville 20.
Another nice defensive stand from the Tiger defense kept the Blue Raiders from scoring a touchdown but they did hit another field goal to extend their lead to 10 at 13-3.
Running back
David Richardson was the offensive standout for the Tigers as he picked up 57 yards on 10 carries with a long of 31. That long run helped set CU up with another goal-to-go situation in the second quarter.
In that drive, Campbellsville went for it on fourth down as
Keanu Young was just stopped short of the goal line as the Blue Raider defense finally made a stand to keep the score at 13-3 at the time.
