Box Scores vs. UNC-Pembroke

MURFREESBORO - UNC-Pembroke held on to a 26-20 win over the homestanding Hawks this afternoon to pick up their first win against a DII institution. UNC-P's Brandon McLaurin came in for an injured Rashan Kennedy  in the first quarter to rush for 137 yards to lead all rushers in the game.

The Braves got the scoring started when Justin Funderburk caught a 51-yard pass from Cory Smith at the 11:08 mark of the first quarter. Andrew Williams made good on the extra point to put the Braves up 7-0 over the Hawks. Still in the first quarter, Ryan Horton came in from the bench and on his first touch from scrimmage completed an 83-yard touchdown strike to Al Bryant. With 4:06 to go in the first quarter, the Braves took a 13-0 lead over Chowan (PAT by UNCP failed).  Josh Floyd capped off an 84-yard drive with a 39-yard paydirt pass to Craig Houck to put Chowan on the board at 13-6. Cory Cline's point after failed to give Pembroke a seven point lead.

On their next possession of the game, Pembroke's Justin Ruffin caught a pass from Smith to stretch their lead. Williams split the uprights to make the score 20-6 with just over twelve minutes to play in the first half. Chowan got the ball back with 3:27 to go in the half and used a 12-play, 71 yard drive to get on the board again with just ticks on the clock before halftime. Spruce Lee turned the corner and hit paydirt from eleven yards out to cut the Braves lead to 20-13 (Cline PAT good).

After forcing punts on respective possessions to start the third quarter, Chowan took over the ball on their own eleven yard line. Quarterback Josh Floyd suffered a sack on the one yard line and fumbled the ball. UNCP's Ben Kurti picked up the ball and fall into the endzone for an easy defensive score. The point after attempt was blocked by Chowan's Aaron Hawkins, who also led the team in tackles on the day with 11, giving Pembroke a 26-13 lead.

On their ensuing possession, the Hawks drove 86-yards where a scrambling Floyd hit a wide open Louis Williams in the corner of the endzone. Williams' touchdown pulled the Hawks within a touchdown of the Braves. Cline banged in the extra point to cut the UNC-Pembroke lead t0 26-20 with an entire quarter left of football.

However, no team would get into the endzone in the final quarter of the game and the visiting Braves beat Chowan with a final score of 26-20. Chowan gained 263 of offense on 69 plays while Pembroke reached a season-high 473 yards of offense, 313 of which came through the air.

Defensively Hawkins had 11 tackles while Gabe White had nine tackles with an interception and a return for 44-yards. D'Angelo Goffigan had eight tackles and one pass break up in the loss.

Chowan falls to 1-5 while UNC-Pembroke improves to 2-3 overall. The Hawks will have off this week and will return to the field when they travel to DI-AA opponent Coastal Carolina on October 13th. Kick off is slated for 7:00pm.