CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — The (RV) Tigers hosted the Cumberland University Phoenix on Saturday night in each squad's first Mid-South Conference showdown of the year. One team was resigned to leave their undefeated streak on the field and the Tigers' fourth-quarter performance secured their unblemished season, 27-14.
The Tiger defense forced the game's first three-and-out on the very first Phoenix possession. Cumberland immediately did the same to the Campbellsville offense in retaliation. The Phoenix were first on the scoreboard with a 12-yard touchdown in their second drive. Following an unsuccessful chance at offense, Campbellsville faced a marching Cumberland, making their way to the Tigers' 18 yard line. Opting out of the field goal opportunity, the Tigers got a fourth-and-one stop tackle-for-loss by Jeremiah Pauling to swing the momentum back in their favor. At the end of the first quarter, Campbellsville trailed Cumberland, 7-0.
To begin the second quarter, during Campbellsville's next possession, the Tigers faced a fourth down. Josh Etienne rushed for eight yards to convert the yardage and keep the offense trucking along. Following Jagger Gillis' 27-yard connection with Nate Monroe, Siler dragged his toes in bounds in the endzone to secure Campbellsville's first touchdown of the game. On the Cumberland offense's subsequent try, Pauling forced a fumble for the first turnover of the contest. Though it was recovered by the Tigers, the offense stalled on a three-and-out. Both teams hovered around midfield the remainder of the first half, unable to make significant progress towards breaking the tie.
After choosing to defer when they won the opening coin toss, Campbellsville was under center, rattling off three first downs before Gillis was sacked and fumbled the ball over to Cumberland at their own 38 yard line. Quickly, facing third down, Ellis Reed stormed the quarterback and got a huge sack to limit the turnover's damage. With three minutes left in the third quarter, the Phoenix reclaimed the lead with a 27-yard touchdown. However, before the fourth quarter horn sounded, Gillis completed two big passes to Tre' Bass (25 yards) and Auker (33 yards) to the one-yard line. With 15 seconds left, Sheperson brought in a catch for the score to even things yet again.
Campbellsville kept Cumberland to just four downs to open the deciding quarter. Following the punt, Gillis found Patrick Oden deep for a 35-yard pass that brought them to just three yards outside of the end zone. Two plays later, the Tigers earned their first lead of the night with another touchdown by Sheperson. Yet again, the Campbellsville defense forced the Phoenix offense into a three-and-out. With an interception off of a Cumberland receiver's head, DQ Brown expanded the Tigers' upper hand with his 27-yard pick-six. With the score at 27-14 with the time ticking down, the Phoenix threw up a hail mary and Brown effectively ended the contest with his second interception.
The Tigers will be back in action traveling to Columbia, Kentucky to battle the Lindsey Wilson College Blue Raiders in this year's Battle of 55 on Saturday, October 19th beginning at 2 p.m. ET.
- Gillis led Campbellsville with 259 yards for 22 passes, Auker with 106 receiving yards for eight receptions, and Charles Collins with 74 rushing yards.
- The Tigers outperformed the Phoenix in multiple statistical categories: first downs (22-16), receptions (23-10), and passing yards (264-119). The key difference was Campbellsville's two fourth-quarter interceptions and the turnover total (the Tigers one to the Phoenix's three).
- Tonight's game marks Campbellsville's second consecutive win against Cumberland; before that, the Tigers had not defeated the Phoenix since 2018.
- This is the Tigers' first 6-0 start since 2017. However, during that season, their third and fourth games did not take place due to a cancellation and postponement. Before that, the last time Campbellsville Tiger Football achieved a 6-0 start was during the 1991 season.
