Lions Win Home Opener in Overtime
The Lions’ football team won their home opener against Shorter in overtime, 28-21.
MARS HILL, N.C. – The Lions' football team won their home opener against Shorter in overtime, 28-21, Saturday afternoon in the Ammons Family Athletic Center and Meares Stadium. Mars Hill evened their record at 1-1 on the year while the Hawks fell to 0-2 on the season.
Jamel Harbison rushed for 139 yards on 24 carries and two touchdowns, including the game winning score, to lead the Lions offensively. David Salmon threw for 120 yards and one score completing 13-25 passes. Craig Rucker was on the receiving end of Salmon's touchdown pass and ended the day with eight catches for a total of 80 yards. Ricky Hawks led the Lions' defense with 12 tackles (7 solo), a tackle-for-loss, a pass break-up and two quarterback hurries. Both of Hawks hurries came in Shorter's final possession of the contest. Jerjuan Edwards and Jamel Brintley followed with 10 tackles apiece. Brintley added 2.5 sacks, two tackles-for-loss and a pair of hurries. Edwards also recorded a sack in the win. Joseph Bruner punted five times for a 44.0 average, placing one inside the Hawks' 20-yardline.
Tyler Pullum completed 23-38 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns to pace the Hawks' offense. Bruce Clark caught five passes for 49 yards and one touchdown. Rodney Jackson led Shorter's defense with a game high 14 tackles. He added two for loss and a pass break-up. Jevaris Jones followed with 10 stops.
Harbison gave the Lions a 7-0 lead when he dove in from a yard out with 2:03 left in the first quarter. Tyler Stewart was perfect all day, connecting on all four of his PAT kick attempts.
A two-yard fumble return by Kevin Knight tied the contest at 7-all with 14:10 left in the second quarter. The teams would carry that score into the locker room at halftime.
Neither team could find the endzone in the third frame. A three-yard scamper by Malik Prescott with 14:54 left in the fourth quarter put the Lions ahead 14-7. The score capped off a 12-play 58-yard drive.
Two minutes later, Pullum found Clark on a seven-yard scoring pass to knot the game at 14-all. Kartez Carter caught a 16-yard pass from Pullum to give the Hawks their first lead of the game with 6:08 left in the contest.
Salmon found Rucker on a nine-yard pass play with 2:56 left in regulation to tie the game at 21-21. On fourth and 15 on the Lions' 33-yardline, Pullum's pass to Carl Coleman was stopped short of the first down by Jeremiah Hay as he forced Coleman out of bounds at the MHU 20-yardline. Mars Hill was conservative with their play calling in the final 22 seconds of regulation. The Lions moved the ball to midfield before time expired and sent the game into overtime.
Shorter won the toss and deferred. On third-and-eight, Salmon found Kedar Bryant for a 13-yard gain to the Hawk 10-yardline. Salmon then rushed for seven yards on the next play that setup a three-yard touchdown rush for Harbison to give MHU a 28-21 lead they would not relinquish.
Shorter then had their opportunity to tie the game and force the contest into another overtime session. On fourth and nine from the MHU 24, Pullum was forced out of the pocket by Chris Daniels and he had to make an erratic throw that fell incomplete. Unfortunately, Mars Hill was called for defensive holding and the Hawks got the ball back on the MHU 14-yardline with four more downs to try and score. The Lions' defensive pressure was strong down the stretch. Ricky Hawks hurried the pass on the first down, Germell Jenkins broke up the pass on the Shorter's third down pass play and then Robbie Morgan, Jr. broke up the Hawks pass attempt with fourth-and-five on the Lions' nine-yardline to seal the win.
Mars Hill rushed for 248 yards in the win and threw for 146 to record 394 yards of total offense. The Lions averaged 5.2 yards per rush.
Mars Hill will travel to Limestone next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
