BRIDGEWATER, Va. - Randolph-Macon took advantage of two Bridgewater first-half turnovers to lead 17-7 at the break and the Yellow Jackets went on to claim a 31-13 victory over the Eagles in ODAC football action.
After the teams exchanged punts to open the game, the Randolph-Macon defense came away with the game's first turnover. Macon cornerback Stephen Richardson picked off a Matt Lawton pass at the Eagles' 34-yard line and returned the pick 10 yards to the 24. The Yellow Jackets moved to the Eagles' 5 before the Bridgewater defense stiffened and forced the visitors to settle for Chris Vidal's 22-yard field goal and 3-0 lead with 8:00 left in the first half.
The Bridgewater defense produced a key stop early in the second quarter to shift momentum. On fourth-and-1 near midfield, the interior line for the Eagles stuffed Macon QB Presley Egbers for no gain, turning the ball over to the BC offense at the Eagles' 49.
Tyler Gilliam picked up 18 yards on a reverse for a first down at he visitors 33, but the drive then stalled. Faced with fourth-and-9 from the R-MC 32, the Eagles elected to keep the offense on the field and Lawton found Chad Jones open for a 32-yard scoring strike, giving the Eagles the lead with 9:19 left in the first half. Jackson Hendren added the PAT for a 7-3 Eagles' lead.
Randolph-Macon responded with a 66-yard scoring drive on the ensuing possession.
A 15-yard completion from Egbers to Tim Hanratty moved the ball to the Eagles' 32 and a 17-yard run by Nick Hale moved the chains to the Bridgewater 15. The Yellow Jackets stayed on the ground and regained the lead on a 3-yard run by Egbers with 3:37 left in the half.
Bridgewater moved the ball past midfield on its next possession before the Yellow Jackets' defense came up with another big turnover. A pass from Lawton was tipped at the line of scrimmage and Matt Vergara came down with the interception at the BC 49-yard line. Vergara returned the pick 19 yards, setting the Randolph-Macon offense up with exceelent field position at the Bridgewater 30 with 1:38 left in the half.
On the next play, Egbers connected with Zach Bowman for a 30-yard touchdown pass and Vidal added the PAT for a 17-7 Randolph-Macon lead.
The Yellow Jackets carried the momentum from the late first-half score into the second half. Macon received the second-half kickoff and drove 70 yards in 10 plays to pad its lead. Running back Justin DeLeon capped the drive with a 7-yard run to paydirt and Vidal's extra point made the score 24-7 with 9:09 left in the third quarter.
The Eagles stayed in contention with a long drive that started from the BC 20 with 5:49 left in the third quarter.
Three straight pass completions by Lawton moved the ball from the BC 31 to the Macon 38-yard line. Faced with a fourth-and-3 play from the R-MC 31, Lawton kept the drive alive with a 10-yard pass to Derrick Jenkins. Bridgewater was looking at a third-and-3 situation at the 16 to start the fourth quarter amd a 9-yard pass from Lawton to Chad Jones moved the chains. On the next play, Lawton connected with Stephen Kloosterman on a 7-yard scoring strike to trim the R-MC lead to 24-13 with 14:29 left in the game.
Randolph-Macon then answered with a time-consuming, 11-play drive to once again make it a three-score game. The Yellow Jackets did most tof the damage on the ground, running the ball on nine of the 11 plays. DeLeon scored on a 6-yard run and Vidal's PAT made the score 31-13 with just 7:14 left to play.
The statistical battle was relatively even as both offenses were held to less that 300 yards. Randolph-Macon finished with 289 total yards, gaining 187 on the ground. The Yellow Jackets' defense negated the Eagles' rushing attack as most of the Bridgewater offense came from the passing game. The Eagles gained just 27 rushing yards on 22 attempts.
Lawton passed for 204 yards, completing 23-of-36 passes with two interceptions and two touchdowns. Jones hauled in five passes for 76 yards. Nazeer Jordan led the Bridgewater defense with 10 tackles, including one QB sack. Brett Tharp added nine tackles.
Bridgewater (2-1, 0-1 in the ODAC) is back in action Saturday when the Eagles travel to Emory & Henry.