ANDERSON, S.C. — The Catawba College football team employed a potent rushing attack to push its way past Anderson, 37-33, in a South Atlantic Conference shootout at Melvin & Dollie Younts Stadium on Saturday.
Freshman Jayden Jones paced the backfield with 107 rushing yards, marking Catawba's (4-4, 3-3 SAC) first triple-digit performance of the year, on nine carries with his first career touchdown. Making his return to the field, Bennett Galloway earned a team-high 13 touches for 78 yards and two scores. Tareavion Mageo also reached the paint, making four rushing TDs for the Catawba offense.
Mason Fortune threw for 159 yards and a touchdown on a 14-for-24 clip, completing passes to six different receivers. Nick Venezia pulled in three receptions for 79 yards, highlighted by a 50-yard receiving touchdown. Mike Geter made a trio of catches for 27 yards, followed by JP Gilchrist's 26 yards on two grabs. After entering the contest with one career reception, Mageo added three more for 10 yards through the air.
The Catawba defense had balanced tackling numbers with 13 players registering multiple stops. Kyiev Bennermon led the way with five tackles, all solo, including two for loss with a three-yard sack while tacking on three hurries and a pass breakup. Cam Anderson also tallied five tackles as fellow defensive back Cameron Daniels had four stops and an interception. Elijah Barber locked down the secondary with two PBUs to log his second multi-breakup performance of the season.
Catawba nearly had a three-figure advantage over Anderson (4-4, 3-3 SAC) in total offense, boasting a 454-357 total margin and clipping the Trojans by 0.2 more yards per play. The rushing category was dominated by the Catawba Indians 295-127, while the Trojans' air attack was exhibited by a 230-159 difference in passing yards. Time of possession favored Catawba whose 32:37 on offense was supported by a .500 (8-for-16) day on third downs. Both teams took advantage of their trips to the red zone as all six appearances inside the 20 resulted in scores.
How it Happened
Anderson scored on the second play of the game with a Darren Lloyd 66-yard touchdown run. Catawba's first offensive play was a chunk rush by Saeed St. Fleur for 45 yards, quickly putting the blue and white at the hosts' 30. Galloway's second carry got Catawba to the 14 and came with an AU personal foul tacked on. Mageo made it hurt with a seven-yard TD plunge to get even.
A big third-down breakup by Barber helped force the Trojans to go three-and-out, but a 56-yard punt pinned the Catawba Indians at their own 3. The deep placement ultimately led to a sack in the end zone for an AU safety. The Trojans used the momentum to produce a nine-play, 60-yard scoring drive capped by a 19-yard passing TD to Lloyd, upping their lead to 16-7.
Catawba responded with a punishing drive of their own with 14 plays for 58 yards across almost seven minutes, setting up a 39-yard field goal by Francisco Garcia Rodriguez. After stonewalling the Trojan offense on fourth and 3, the Catawba Indians began to threaten again as Fortune's 26-yard hookup with Venezia got them across midfield. Maurice Savage hauled in an eight-yard catch and went out of bounds at the 2, allowing Galloway to punch it in and take a one-point lead.
Getting the ball back with four minutes until halftime following another AU three-and-out, Catawba drove the rock to midfield at the two-minute timeout. St. Fleur struck immediately with a 50-yard TD that was nullified by a holding penalty. Moving the ball five yards back just added yardage for Jones who used a 55-yard burst to reach the end zone on Catawba's longest run of the year. An under-two-minute drill for the Trojans was productive enough to get into field goal range as Phillip Bonacci split the uprights from 28 yards out, making it 24-19 at the break.
AU converted a third down with a 46-yard pickup and entered the red zone using a Catawba holding foul. Another completion set up Darron Parry to score the go-ahead Trojan touchdown. The hosts looked to break it open when Rafael Little posted a pick-six on Catawba's next possession for a nine-point edge at 33-24.
The defenses started pushing back to stall the scoring for the rest of the third quarter. With 10 minutes left in the game, the Catawba Indians embarked on a quick three-play attack opened by a 10-yard St. Fleur rush and an 11-yard grab by Gilchrist. From midfield, Fortune hit Venezia at the 27 and the second-year receiver did the rest for a 50-yard TD connection. The second play of AU's next drive featured an interception by Daniels, setting up Catawba at the hosts' 33. A ground-and-pound effort ended with Galloway's second score of the day; the blue and white went for two and failed, making it a 37-33 ballgame.
Anderson was stymied again by the Catawba Indian defense, being forced to punt with four minutes to go. Catawba, starting at its own 34 with intent to burn the clock, ran nine plays for 32 yards to exhaust all three of the Trojans' timeouts. Left with 11 seconds to work, AU gained 14 yards on a hook and ladder, but fumbled at midfield as Catawba recovered to finalize the win.
The one-possession conference victory is Catawba's first since Oct. 6, 2024, in their initial meeting with Anderson, an overtime triumph at Shuford Stadium.
Catawba and Anderson are now part of a four-team logjam in the middle of the SAC standings. Each team in the stalemate, which also includes Tusculum and Wingate, is 3-3 in the conference and 4-4 overall.
Up Next
The Catawba Indians are on bye next week, then resume play on Saturday, Oct. 31, against No. 18 Carson-Newman for Homecoming. The Halloween kickoff at Shuford Stadium is slated for 1 p.m.
