MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Rhodes football's second half carried them over Berry College in its first ever Southern Athletic Association contest on Saturday, 36-24.
The win takes the Lynx to 3-1 on the season and opens up conference play 1-0. Berry moves to 0-3 in the inaugural season and 0-1 in the SAA.
Rhodes controlled the ball game from the beginning, owning the first 4:29 of the time of possession. Jonathan Wiener was a standout with a 27 yard catch to put the Lynx in Berry territory. Dane Wilson put the Lynx on the board first with a 12 yard rushing touchdown to finish off the drive.
After a three and out by Berry, two offside penalties put the Lynx in good scoring position for the second drive. However, after two straight incompletions, the Lynx turned it over on downs with 5:30 left in the first quarter.
Christian Labenberg led the Lynx defense with a sack for a loss of 9 yards to force a second straight three and out from Berry.
A pair of Dane Wilson fumbles in the first quarter allowed Berry to get on the board twice. The first a 32 yard field goal from Harrison, followed by a 47 yard fake punt rushing touchdown from Blanchard, put Berry up 10-7 to close out the first quarter.
The fumble issues for the Lynx continued on into the second quarter when a fumble at the Berry 1 yard line by Mitchell Dekozan was recovered by Anthony Batey and returned 100 yards to put Berry up 17-7 after the extra point.
A 57 yard run by Mitch Dekozan with 3:41 left in the half narrowed Berry's lead to only 17-13. However the extra point attempt by Tucker Nichols was no good.
The Lynx defense held tough late in the half keeping the score at 17-13 in favor of the Vikings heading in the half.
Michael Aucoin opened the second half with a booming 60 yard kick to put Berry at the 27 yard line. The Lynx defense came out of break ready to play and caused a quick three and out.
Rhodes offense stalled, but a great punt by Aucoin pinned Berry deep in their zone. The Lynx defense pushed the Vikings back and on a fourth down at the two yard line, Brandon Williams blocked a punt which was recovered by Berry in their end zone. The safety brought the Lynx within two with Berry still leading 17-15 with 10:00 left in the quarter.
On the immediate punt, Jonathan Wiener had a solid 22 yard return. The momentum generated by the defense and special teams carried over to the offense with a quick two play scoring drive by Dane Wilson to put the Lynx back on top. After the extra point, the Lynx led once again 22-17.
The Lynx defense continued to dominate the rest of the quarter by pushing Berry's offense back for a total of -2 yards on their final two drives. Again with standout defensive was Labenberg with another sack for a loss of 12 yards.
Kevin Vieira started the fourth quarter strong with a 16 yard rush to give the Lynx a first down. Although Vieira propelled the Lynx down the field with 20 yards rushing on the drive, it was Dane Wilson that ultimately got the touchdown on a 3 yard run increasing Rhodes' lead to 29-17 after the extra point.
On the proceeding drive, Michael Shield intercepted Sandon Mims pass and had a 12 yard return. Rhodes' offense was able to capitalize off of Shield's effort with a five yard touchdown pass from Blake Box to Mason Childers. After the extra point, the Lynx had a solid lead of 36-17.
The sack count for the Lynx defense continued to increase thanks to Wyatt McRae for a 10 yard loss which eventually led to a turnover on downs with 6:03 left to play in the fourth quarter.
The final score of the game is not an accurately reflection of the effort put in by the Lynx defense which gave up one last score to Berry with 1:42 left in the fourth quarter to give the Lynx the final winning score of 36-24.
Offensive leaders for the game were Box with 89 yards passing and 43 yards rushing with a solid completion percentage of 57 percent.
The receivers were led by Wiener with 41 yards, and Childers with a five yard receiving touchdown.
Wilson, Vieira, and Dekozan all lit the Berry defense up with a team total of 337 yards. Wilson had three touchdowns and a game high 125 total yards. Vieira produced 89 yards, and DeKozan added 70 yards with one touchdown.
The defense was led by Christian Labenberg who had four and a half tackles with two sacks. Michael Olushoga and Shield dominated the Berry offense with three and seven tackles respectively. Shield also snagged an interception in the contest.
On special teams, both Williams and Wiener had a good day returning. Williams return yardage totaled 71 on the day, and Wiener had a solid 22 yard return.
The Lynx will be back at home for the Blues Bowl on Oct. 5 at 1 p.m. as they take on future SAA foe's the University of Chicago.
