Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
ROME, Ga. – Heath Haden passed for three touchdowns as Centre College defeated Berry College, 48-6, at the Darlington School on Saturday.
Berry, however, recorded the first two scores of the game off the leg of Campbell Harrison.
Early in the first quarter, Centre went into punt formation. Yet Jake Johnson's knee touched the ground and BC took over on downs at the Colonel 13-yard-line. Four plays later, Harrison connected on a 26-yard field goal to put the home team ahead, 3-0.
The Viking defense then forced a three-and-out. BC capped a seven-play, 16-yard drive with another Harrison field goal—this one from 45 yards. The Vikes led 6-0 with 8:58 remaining in the first quarter.
Thereafter, Centre did all the scoring. After the first quarter it was 21-6, which remained the score at halftime.
The Colonels had the only tally--a 27-yard pass from Haden to Austin Jones—in the third quarter. For the game, Haden was 20-33 for 255 yards and one interception. The scoreboard read 28-6 heading to the final period.
Centre recorded all 20 points in the final quarter, the last TD being a 65-yard interception return by Alex Mattingly.
"The score wasn't indicative of some of the good things we did on the field," said Berry Head Coach Tony Kunczewski. "But we need to put together four good quarters, not two or three. The guys are working hard and maintaining great attitudes, so we are looking forward to next week."
Despite the loss, Berry once again had many positives. The Vikings' 217 yards of total offense was a season-high against varsity competition. Christopher Lilly caught nine passes for 124 yards, a season-best for BC receivers. Lilly had 124 kick returns yards and finished with 236 all-purpose yards.
The navy and silver had strong moments in the running game, too. Trevor Price led the way with 55 yards on 14 carries. Quarterback Sandon Mims came off the bench to go 8-17 for 112 yards passing. Will Chomskis had the best chance to score. He caught a 27-yard pass from Mims but stumbled to the ground with a wide open path to the end zone in the third period.
Mitchell Blanchard punted nine times for 336 yards (37.6 yard average). He placed two kicks inside the 20-yard line and had a long boot of 49 yards. On defense, Anthony Batey had eight tackles, including two for losses. Malcholm Graham had an interception which he returned 19 yards.
Berry, a first year program, plays at Hendrix next Saturday in a battle of upstart programs. The Warriors restarted football after a long hiatus this year.