Davidson College
Lenoir-Rhyne
Turnovers Doom Davidson in 41-13 Loss at Lenoir-Rhyne
9/11/2010 10:10:37 PM | Football
HICKORY, N.C. – Four Davidson turnovers in the first half turned into 21 Lenoir-Rhyne points, and James Pone rushed five times for 70 yards and a touchdown in the game as Lenoir-Rhyne defeated the Wildcats 41-13 at Moretz Stadium Saturday night.
Kenny Mantuo led Davidson with 89 yards on the ground and caught two passes for 32 yards. Freshman quarterback Jonathan Carkhuff completed 15 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown, and Lanny Funsten had three catches for 37 yards and a touchdown. Tight end Reese Williams finished with 62 yards on five receptions.
Lenoir-Rhyne, which came into the game averaging 416 rushing yards a contest, had 266 on the ground. Quarterback Major Herron rushed for 64 yards and a score on 12 carries, and Le'Quan McCorkle rushed for 45 yards and three touchdowns on 12 attempts.
The Wildcats (0-2) had three interceptions and a fumble on special teams in the first half, which helped the Bears (2-1) score 34 straight points in the contest. Davidson finished the contest with five miscues that led to 27 LRU points.
“We obviously need to do a better job of taking care of the football,” said Davidson coach Tripp Merritt. “You can't win football games when your opponent gets 27 points off of turnovers. We need to get some takeaways too.”
Trailing 7-0, sophomore quarterback Chris Cochrane, making his first career start, led the 'Cats on a seven play, 64-yard scoring drive to even the score. Cochrane hit Reese Williams for a 20-yard pass and followed that with a 23-yard scamper on a bootleg to key the drive.
On 1st-and-goal, Mantuo went around the right side and dove, stretching the ball across the goal line for a 9-yard touchdown, and Ben Behrendt knocked home the PAT.
Lenoir-Rhyne came right back with two touchdowns in 1:31 to open a 21-7 cushion. One the first play from scrimmage after the Davidson kickoff, Pone broke a 59-yard touchdown run.
LRU's Cam Thompkins picked off a Cochrane pass and returned it 30 yards deep into Davidson territory on the Wildcats' next possession. After Gaston Miller broke free for a 22-yard run on 3rd-and-14 to set up 1st-and-goal, McCorkle went in from three yards out, opening the two-touchdown margin.
“I thought we made some nice plays on that drive – some nice runs and some good catches,” said Merritt. “We scored, and I'm thinking here we go. That run was a really big momentum shift, and we didn't recover.”
The Bears' Richard Walker recovered a mishandled punt to give Lenoir-Rhyne the ball at the Davidson 15-yard line late in the first half. McCorkle went into the end zone from 1-yard out four plays later as the Bears opened a 28-7 cushion at halftime.
LRU added to the lead by scoring a touchdown on its opening drive of the second half. The Bears converted two 3rd-and-long plays on the drive, and one was a 41-yard run on a quarterback draw by Herron. That set up an 18-yard touchdown run by McCorkle and a 35-7 Lenoir-Rhyne advantage.
Trailing 41-7 midway through the fourth quarter, Carkhuff hit Funsten with a 24-yard touchdown pass. It was the first career TD pass for Carkhuff and the first career TD reception for Funsten. Mantuo set up the score with a 28-yard run.
The Wildcats open their Pioneer Football League slate at Campbell next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
“We have to rally and focus for conference play now,” said Merritt.
Game Notes: Mantuo moved into the top-10 on the Davidson career-rushing chart with 1,501 yards… The senior also moved into a tie with Tommy Dugan on the all-time scoring chart with 150 points… Davidson had five turnovers against Lenoir-Rhyne last season.
