No.6 Cats Win Top 20 Showdown in Williamsburg
WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. - The No. 6 Bethel Wildcats won their 17th straight regular season game with a 30-10 victory at the University of the Cumberlands Saturday night in Williamsburg, Kentucky. The Patriots entered the showdown ranked No. 19 in the nation.
Bethel's defense and the right leg of Andrew Welch were the biggest factors until Bethel broke the game open in the second half.
The Wildcats scored on their opening drive to take a 3-0 lead on a 22-yard field goal from Andrew Welch. The 49 -yard drive took just 3:16 seconds.
Bethel upped their lead to 6-0 on a 42- yard field goal by Welch with 46 seconds left in the first quarter. The kick capped off a nine play 68- yard drive.
The Wildcats moved out to a 13-0 margin on a one-yard touchdown run from Mitchell Faulkner. The score came with 5:34 left in the half. The score came after a seven play 73 -yard drive.
The No.19 Patriots kicked a 28-yard field goal as time expired in the half and Bethel's lead was 13-3 at the break.
Bethel had a 249-114 advantage in total yards in the half.
The Wildcats moved ahead 16-3 with a 29-yard field goal from Welch with 4:39 left in the third stanza. The explosive Wildcat offense came to life late in the quarter. A three-play drive of 83 yards broke the game open as the Cats took a 23-3 lead with just 1:11 left. Joaquin Collazo III hit Jaylen Taylor on an 11-yard pass. The score was set up by two great receptions by Avont Burrus during a three play 83-yard drive.
Bethel scored again early in the fourth quarter. Collazo hit Taylor again for a touchdown which gave the Wildcats a 30-3 margin. The pass capped off a seven play 70-yard drive.
Cumberlands scored a touchdown with 9:58 left to make it 30-10.
Bethel outgained UC 439-278 in total yards. The Wildcats had 186 rushing yards and 253 in the air. Collazo was 12-of-26 for 253 yards. Martize Smith, former player for UC rushed for 152 yards on 28 carries. Taylor caught six passes for 101 yards.
Brian Hughes led Bethel with nine total tackles. Brody Franks and Kedrick Walker followed with six each. Darian Burns and Jaylon Beasley both had interceptions.
It was the 13th meeting between the two programs. U of C has an 8-5 advantage in the series.
Bethel improved to 5-0 and 1-0 while the Pats dropped to 4-1 and 0-1.
The victory was the 199th in program history.
Coach Michael Jasper said, "There are lot of things we need to clean up, but I'm proud of these young men and this staff coming out with this win. Winning college ball games is never easy and to get one in the best conference in the country against a tough ranked opponent on the road is a blessing. We are going to enjoy this for a few hours then get to work and get ready for Georgetown. They are another great program and like Cumberlands, will be coming off a bye. We are excited about the work we get to put in this week and the great test that lay ahead."
Next Week:
The Cats return home to face the Tigers of Georgetown Saturday. Kick-off is slated for 1 p.m. with the Catwalk scheduled for 11:15 a.m. It will be Pink Out Day & Breast Cancer Awareness Day at the stadium.
Watch:
https://www.bethelathletics.com/watch
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Stats:
https://bethelathletics.com/sports/fball/2023-24/boxscores/20231007_33qs.xml
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https://bethelathletics.com/tickets