BREVARD, NC – The Christopher Newport football squad fell to 0-3 Saturday night, losing at Brevard College, 27-6, in non-conference action. The Captains held a 6-0 lead at halftime at Brevard Memorial Stadium, but failed to score in the second half as the Tornados pulled away.
Brevard, now 1-0, recorded four second-half touchdowns after being shut out by the Captains in the opening half. Sophomore quarterback Dalton Cole threw for a score and ran for two touchdowns to lead the Tornados. Cole completed 10 of 18 pass attempts for 181 yards and rushed 16 times for 100 yards.
"We're obviously very disappointed with the way things went tonight," Head Coach
Art Link said. "We just didn't make enough plays to separate ourselves. Our offense just couldn't sustain drives, and we failed to establish our rhythm. Defensively we were on the field a lot and made some big stops but also gave up some big plays."
Christopher Newport's scoring came on 45 and 27-yard field goals from senior kicker
Dylan Curran in the first two quarters. Curran also had an attempt blocked just before the intermission. The Tornados took control in the second half, scoring two touchdowns in the third quarter to go ahead, 13-6, and then posted two more scores in the final stanza for the 27-6 final verdict.
Senior quarterback
Jack Anderson completed 25 passes on 43 attempts for 229 yards and two interceptions for the Captains. Senior wide receiver
Cole Blais matched a school record with 13 receptions, a mark set by T.J. Foster in 2011 and
Taylor Loudan in 2015. Blais registered 99 yards in receiving in the defeat. Junior linebacker
Sean Wilkinson led the Captains on defense by recording seven tackles and forcing a fumble. Sophomore linebacker
Jason Massengill made six stops, intercepted a pass, and recorded a sack.
The meeting Saturday at Brevard was the first ever between the schools and was played in front of a crowd of 786 on a clear and pleasant evening in western North Carolina. This is the third time in the 19-year history of the Christopher Newport football program the Captains have started 0-3. Christopher Newport teams in 2001, the first year of action, and 2010 both bounced back to capture conference titles and advance to the NCAA tournament.
"We've got a lot of good guys in our locker room and good leaders on this team," Link continued. "We have a lot of evaluating to do over the next two weeks to get us ready for our New Jersey Athletic Conference schedule." All seven games remaining on the schedule will be NJAC battles, three at home and four on the road.
The Captains now have a week off before returning to action on Saturday, October 5
th, at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. Kickoff is set for 12 noon for the NJAC opener.
