HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, Va. — Averett University football led at halftime, but Hampden-Sydney College bounced back in the second half and held off the Cougars 41-21 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference action on Saturday afternoon.
Hampden-Sydney (4-3, 2-2 ODAC) opened scoring with a 7-yard touchdown run to put the Tigers in front 7-0 with 6:40 left in the first quarter. However, Averett (2-5, 0-4 ODAC) answered on its ensuing possession with a 12-play, 63-yard drive that culminated with junior
Shyheim Watlington's 5-yard touchdown run up the middle where he was nearly untouched as the Cougars knotted the score, 7-7 just before the end of the period.
Averett took a 14-7 lead with under a minute left in the first half as junior quarterback
Louie De Iulio found- senior receiver
Shawn Watlington on a fade route to the right side of the end zone as Watlington snuck behind the defense with 44 seconds left in the second quarter. But the momentum from that score was dampened as Hampden-Sydney managed to connect on a 50-yard touchdown pass as time expired for halftime. Luckily for the Cougars, the Tigers missed the extra point to help Averett take a 14-13 advantage into the locker rooms.
Hampden-Sydney surged ahead with a pair of rushing touchdowns in the third quarter to give the Tigers a 27-14 lead entering the fourth quarter. The Cougars tried to claw their way back as sophomore
Trevor Testerman scored on a 2-yard rush to pull Averett within 27-21 with 14:06 to play.
From there, however, things went Hampden-Sydney's way. The Tigers added an 18-yard touchdown pass midway through the quarter and converted the two-point conversion to go up 35-21. Hampden-Sydney tacked on another short rushing touchdown in the final minutes to pull away 42-21.
Averett's defense was once again led by the linebacker tandem of graduate student
Tre' Maxwell and junior
Anthony Brunelli, who totaled 11 tackles and nine tackles, respectively. Sophomore
Marte' Simmons had 1.5 sacks, with Brunelli combining for 0.5 sacks.
The Cougars' offense showed progress, scoring three touchdowns and recording its first passing touchdown since Week 2. De Iulio completed 11 of 22 passes for 146 yards, with
Shawn Watlington making three catches for 56 yards and score and Testerman catching three passes for 53 yards. Senior
Tavien Goffigan also made three receptions for 24 yards. Freshman
Sean Leach led the ground attack with 13 rushes for 60 yards.
Averett returns home to play Shenandoah University on Nov. 2 at 1 p.m.
