Bulldogs ride high-octane offense to victory over Catawba

Steven Grandy
Sports Editor

After a disappointing Homecoming game against Newberry, it would be fair to wonder how the Wingate football team would play in a tough road game against Catawba College. 518 offensive yards and six touchdowns later, the answer to the questions was simple.
Quite well.
Wingate scored early and often against Catawba and picked up a key 42-17 Super Region 2 win Saturday over the Indians. With the win, Wingate moves up the ninth place ranking in Super Region 2 with two games remaining, both against higher ranked teams. The top six teams make the playoffs.
After surrendering a 37 yard field goal by Catawba’s Andrew Trexler on the opening drive, the Bulldogs took a 7-3 on the first ofrunning back Nelson Woods’ two touchdowns on the day. Woods scored from two yards out to cap a 9 play, 74 yard drive and gave Wingate a 7-3 lead.
Following a Catawba punt, the Bulldogs would only need 16 seconds to take a 14-3 lead as quarterback Cody Haffly connected with wide receiver Antonio Cotton for a 75 yard touchdown pass. It was Cotton’s first touchdown of the season.
Catawba would cut the lead to 14-10 after a Patrick Dennis touchdown pass to Brandon Bunn with 13:23 remaining in the first half. Wingate running back Vince Jordan scored his first of two touchdowns of the game with 7:22 remaining in the half to widen the Bulldog lead to 21-10. Wingate would take that lead into halftime.
Wingate would stretch the lead halfway through the third quarter on a 28 yard touchdown pass from Haffly to Philip Thomas to push the lead to 28-10. Catawba would add a touchdown inside of two minutes to go in the quarter to cut the Bulldog lead to 11 entering the 4th quarter.
The final quarter would belong to the Bulldogs, as Woods and Jordan would both add their second rushing touchdowns of the game to put the game out of reach. With the win, the Bulldogs improve to 6-2 on the season and 4-1 in the South Atlantic Conference.
“Our guys took a good hard look at the Newberry game and found where they needed to improve,” said Wingate offensive coordinator Mike Long. “They came out ready to work all last week and their hard work was the key to the offensive performance (Saturday)”.
Wingate will host conference leading Carson-Newman College Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Irwin Belk Stadium. The Bulldogs will celebrate Senior Day prior to the game.