HobbsDailyReport.com
HICKORY – Quarterback James Whitaker passed for 214 yards and a touchdown to lead Wingate to a 22-14 win over Lenoir-Rhyne University in South Atlantic Conference football at Mortez Stadium on Saturday night.
Whitaker was 13 of 19 as Wingate (4-0, 2-0) posted its third straight win over the Bears (1-3, 0-2) and beat them for the fifth time in nine games.
WHITAKER
LRU — 2-8 at Moretz in its last 10 games there — now has a five-game home losing streak in league games.
A week after finishing with a season-high 400-plus yards of total offense, LRU was held to 257 yards.
“I think Wingate is as good of a team as there is in the conference,” LRU head coach Mike Kellar said. “Wingate is big, physical and very well-coached and they are where we are trying to be with our program, and that’s exactly what we are going to look like here in a few months.”
While the Bears had trouble getting their offense in gear, Wingate finished with 434 yards of total offense.
The Bulldogs’ offense was efficient, scoring on five of eight drives (three field goals, two touchdowns).
Four of Wingate’s scoring drives were 60-plus yards and two were 80-plus yards.
Trailing by four points in the second quarter, Wingate took the lead for good with one minute, 10 seconds left in the first half when Whitaker connected with Malik Bledsoe for a 16-yard TD. A successful PAT by Freddy McCollum put the Bulldogs up 10-7.
Aided by two penalties by Wingate for 20 yards — both giving the Bears a first down — LRU threatened on its final drive but time expired at the Wingate 25 when Jarrod Keller’s pass to T.J. Smith was a little long.
A big difference in the game was Wingate’s ability to stop the Bears’ rushing attack.
Wingate held LRU to a season-low 71 yards rushing.
LRU’s Nelson Brown, who was trying to become the first LRU players with three straight 100-yard games since Kristaan Ivory, was held to 42 yards and a TD on 18 carries.
Lawrence Pittman carried the load for Wingate, which played without leading rusher Blake Hayes (ankle injury), with a game-high 127 yards on 37 carries and a TD.
Jarrod Kellar finished 15 of 23 for 186 yards for the Bears, who play a conference game next Saturday at 6 p.m. at Tusculum.