DANVILLE, Va. — Averett University football held off Methodist University in the closing minutes to escape with a 41-33 conference victory on Saturday night at Daly Field.
Averett (1-3, 1-0) benefitted from a strong performance by its offense early on as the Cougars built a 41-19 lead late into the third quarter. Yet, Averett relied heavily on its defense at the end as Methodist (2-3, 0-2 USA South) made a comeback.
Methodist scored near the end of the third quarter to get within 41-25, then added another touchdown and a two-point conversion to cut Averett's lead down to eight points with 7:40 to play. Averett's offense went three-and-out on its ensuing possession, opening the door for the Monarchs. Methodist nearly capitalized. It threw for two touchdown passes that were called back for penalties — one for holding and one for an illegal block. The Monarchs' drive stalled and they missed a 48-yard field goal attempt with 2:53 remaining. Still, Averett wasn't in the clear.
As Averett tried to drive down the field and eat up the clock, Methodist's Kyle Colburn intercepted a pass near midfield with 1:59 to play. The Monarchs drove down to the Averett 24-yard line, but the Cougars got a sack and the defense's pressure forced two consecutive incomplete passes to set up a fourth-and-11 with 8.1 seconds to play. Dylan DeGroot's pass across the middle at the goal line fell incomplete in the end zone, just out of the reach of Anthony Radke, who was swarmed by several defenders.
Averett kneeled to run out the final 2.8 seconds to earn its first win of the season in its first game since Sept. 19, following a bye week and last week's canceled game with LaGrange College.
"Sometimes you have to learn how to win one like that when your back is against the wall," Averett coach
Cleive Adams said. "Our guys found a way to make plays down the stretch."
It was the offense that made the big plays early as Averett piled on the points in the first half. Sophomore running back
Travis Jones broke a 39-yard run up the middle to give the Cougars a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. Averett added to that when sophomore quarterback
Kelly Hall found senior receiver
Brenden Hughes for a 14-yard touchdown in the right corner of the end zone midway through the first quarter. Hall, himself, found the end zone from 1 yard out early in the second quarter as Averett extended its lead to 21-0.
Methodist closed the gap, however as Emontie Dears scored a 3-yard rushing touchdown and Tevis Dasher picked off the Cougars for a 26-yard interception return for a touchdown to pull the Monarchs within 21-12 after two missed extra points.
Averett took a 28-12 lead into halftime thanks to a 9-yard touchdown run by junior receiver
Michael Barbour Jr. on a nice reverse play just before the end of the half.
The Cougars continued the momentum at the start of the third quarter as Hall found senior receiver
Terrance Owens II for a 43-yard touchdown connection. Barbour added a 4-yard touchdown on a pass from Hall later in the quarter.
Hall passed for three touchdowns and 250 yards, his third consecutive 200-plus-yard passing performance. Surprisingly, he became the first Cougar to throw for three touchdowns in a single game since Todd Parsons in the 2006 season finale.
Helped by a strong performance from the offensive line, Jones totaled 133 yards and a score on just eight carries for his second 100-yard rushing game of the season. He also finished with 127 yards on kick returns.
Sophomore
Caleb Williams and junior
Kevin Norcott led Averett with 13 tackles each, while sophomore
Hunter Shepherd and senior
Michael Reives had 11 tackles and 10 tackles, respectively. Sophomore
Don Warren also had a strong performance with nine tackles, including 2.5 sacks.
Averett will look to carry the momentum of the victory into next week's road game at Greensboro College.
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