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NEWPORT NEWS, Va.- A little before four o'clock Saturday afternoon, the Christopher Newport football squad learned it would be heading to the 2012 NCAA Tournament due to Ferrum's loss to Maryville in the USA South. The Captains would represent the conference in the post-season no matter what happened on the field Saturday night in the regular-season finale at POMOCO Stadium.

Tragically for the Captains, the afternoon news was the only good news of the day.

CNU lost to Methodist, 30-29, Saturday night to end the regular season with a 6-4 record and a 5-2 mark in the USA South. Matt Kelchner's squad had a three-game winning streak snapped and will now try to re-group and begin preparations for NCAA action.

"We let this game get away," Kelchner said. "We had a nine point lead at halftime and didn't put them away. It's as simple as that."

CNU's loss combined with the Ferrum loss to Maryville creates a three-way tie for the top spot in the conference standings. The Captains hold the tiebreaker over both Ferrum and Maryville due to victories over both schools earlier this season. All three teams wound up 5-2 in league play.

The Captains will learn their next opponent and game location on Sunday evening at approximately 6 p.m. as the NCAA releases the 32-team tournament bracket. CNU's opening round game will be next Saturday, November 17th, with kickoff expected to be 12 noon.

"We've got a lot of work to do this week," Kelchner continued. "We haven't been able to put teams away this year and it came back to get us again tonight."

Christopher Newport fell behind early, 14-0, as the Monarchs scored touchdowns on their first two possessions in the first seven minutes of the game. The Captains bounced back with a big play as sophomore quarterback Marcus Morrast threw a 47-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Rudy Rudolph to make it 14-7 following the opening quarter.

The second quarter belonged to the Captains as CNU scored three times to take the lead. Two of the scores came on runs from Morrast of 1 and 23 yards. Sophomore kicker Mason Studer, who had missed an extra point earlier, more than made up for it by matching a school record with a 47-yard field goal as the half expired. The kick gave CNU a 23-14 halftime advantage.

The momentum did not carry over to the second half, as the Captains could not do anything offensively in a scoreless third quarter. The Monarchs would then re-take the lead, 24-23, in the final quarter following a 27-yard field goal from Cody Ausherman and a 4-yard touchdown run by John Flanagan.

The Captains again bounced back to re-take the lead. With 6:34 to play, Morrast scored on a 19-yard run, his third rushing TD of the night, to make it a 29-24 CNU lead. The Monarchs, however, weren't done yet.

Methodist got the ball back and used an 11-play, 64-yard drive to grab the lead for good. Flanagan scored his third rushing touchdown of the game on a 2-yard plunge with 2:44 left to make it a 30-29 game.

Christopher Newport's last drive of the night ended on downs on a fourth down incomplete pass to give the Monarchs their first win ever at POMOCO Stadium in six tries. CNU now leads the series with Methodist, 9-3.

Morrast ended up with 100 yards rushing on 15 attempts and three scores. Flanagan led MU with 156 yards on 17 carries and three scores as well.

Junior linebacker Evan Moog led the CNU defense with 17 tackles and senior linebacker Michael Ruckman added 10 stops. Latovis Davis led the Methodist defense with 16 tackles.

Methodist finishes with a 5-5 overall record and a 4-3 mark in the USA South.

A crowd of 3,803 set a new single-season attendance record for CNU.

The Captains will be playing in their ninth NCAA Tournament in the 12-year history of the program. It's also the third straight season CNU has advanced to post-season play. Fans can watch the bracket show online Sunday night at 6 p.m. at www.ncaa.com