DANVILLE, Va. — Averett University football suffered a heart-breaking, 21-15 loss to conference foe N.C. Wesleyan College on Homecoming and Senior Day Saturday on Daly Field at Frank R. Campbell Stadium.

Averett (3-4, 3-2 USA South), trailing by six points with the ball in the final minutes, drove down the field on N.C .Wesleyan to get inside the red zone. The drive was nearly halted near midfield, but senior quarterback Christian Miles scrambled for a 22-yard run to pick up a first down on fourth-and-14. Several plays later, junior running back Sean Bowman rushed 15 yards down to the Bishops' 6-yard line with just under a minute to play.

The Cougars, with a first-and-goal opportunity, handed off to Bowman two consecutive times to pick up 2 yards and 1 yard, respectively, to set up a third-and-goal from the N.C. Wesleyan 3-yard line. Following an Averett timeout to stop the clock with 27 seconds to play, the Cougars were stopped for a loss of 1 on a run. With no timeouts, Averett rushed to the line for one last play on fourth down with under 10 seconds remaining. However, a false start on the play led to a 10-second run-off, ending the game with Averett standing in the shadow of the Bishops' goal line — just short of what would have been a game-tying touchdown (with a chance to win it on the extra point).

Both teams' offenses moved the chains but struggled to finish off drives. N.C. Wesleyan (3-5, 3-3 USA South) took an early 7-0 lead on an Adrian Minondo touchdown run in the first quarter. Averett had its chances, but two drives stalled in Bishops territory and the Cougars settled for a pair of field goals by sophomore Cole Westberry — one from 34 yards and one from 28 yards. The latter cut N.C. Wesleyan's lead to 7-6 with 1:03 left in the second quarter. Yet, the Bishops used a big play to score just before the half.

On its ensuing possession, Donielle Totten hit Trey Lancaster in stride down the left side for a 75-yard touchdown seconds later on the first play from scrimmage to help give N.C. Wesleyan a 14-6 advantage at halftime.

Westberry added his third field goal of the day — a 23-yarder — to pull Averett within 14-9 with 1:06 to play in the third quarter. The Cougars got some needed momentum on a special teams play from sophomore Kye Nuffer, who returned a punt 64 yards down to the N.C. Wesleyan 15-yard line early in the fourth quarter. Two plays later, Bowman powered through the middle for a 4-yard touchdown to give Averett its first lead, 15-14.

Averett's defense came up with another big stop on the Bishops' next drive as senior Tyriek Able picked off Totten in Averett's red zone, but the Cougars couldn't turn it into points. That gave the possession back to N.C. Wesleyan, which methodically made its way down the field in seven plays, culminating in a Minondo 8-yard touchdown run to put the Bishops back in front 21-15 with 2:45 to play and set up the dramatic ending.

Bowman once again rushed for more than 100 yards, totaling 147 yards on the ground on 29 carries. He has surpassed 100 yards rushing in six of Averett's seven games this season, putting him over the 1,000-yard mark for the year. He's the first Cougar to have multiple 1,000-yard seasons in a career, and his current total of 1,059 yards ranks third behind Kyle Wilson's program-record 1,316 set in 2005 and Bowman's 1,180 from last season.

In addition to Bowman, senior receiver Myles Bennett had three catches for 40 yards and Miles ran for 95 yards.

Junior linebacker Dejon Brooks led the defense with 11 tackles, while sophomore A.J. Cheeks had six tackles and a fumble recovery. Able and sophomore Justin Culp each added three pass break-ups.

Despite the loss, Averett celebrated Homecoming with a crowd of 2,312 in attendance. Prior to the game, the Cougars honored their 21 seniors as part of the Senior Day festivities.

Averett plays its home finale next Saturday against Maryville College at 1 p.m. before finishing the season with a pair of road games.