Cavs' Defense Shines in Defeat of Hawks

October 14, 2006
Game Stats

Rome, GA -- The Highland Cavalier defense shined brightly Saturday afternoon holding the Hawks to 211 yards of total offense, forcing three fumbles and scoring a safety. UVA-Wise controlled the game the whole afternoon and produced an important 36-21 road victory over Shorter College.

The Cavs improved to 2-0 the past two seasons playing on the Hawks' home field. With the win, UVA-Wise (5-2) claimed its fifth victory of the year, the most since going 6-4 in 2001. Shorter drops to 4-3 on the season.

For the seventh time of the season, UVA-Wise outgained its opponent 356 to 211 yards. The Cavs' defense held the Hawks to 111 yards in the opening half and 100 yards in the latter stanza. Linebacker Corey Wheeler paced the effort in stops with seven solo and nine total while middle linebacker Ben Robertson added eight tackles. Chas Johnson had a good game with seven tackles, five solo and two tackles for loss. Reggie Dorsainvil had two stops for loss while Matt Hutchings had a fumble recovery and the safety. Andrew Hutchings forced one fumble.

Offensively, wideout Kendon Doe grabbed seven balls for 126 yards and two scores. Matt Barbour accounted for five catches for 60 yards and tight end Adam Payne pulled in two balls for 19 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Randy Hippeard completed 19 of 30 attempts for 227 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. Running back Ra'Shad Morgan had a workman-like day with 111 yards on 31 carries and one touchdown. Morgan became the fifth UVA-Wise rusher to surpass 1,000 yards in a season with 1,075 in seven games.

The UVA-Wise defense started strong and continued through the game. The unit forced a fumble on the Shorter opening drive and sacked the Hawks' quarterback for a safety on the second possession for a 2-0 lead.

On the second play after the free kick, Hippeard lofted the ball down the right side line to Doe for a 49-yard touchdown. Shorter answered the tally with its own points on a short field. Leading 9-7, Morgan ran into the endzone from five yards to score on the second-straight drive to make it 16-7. Kicker Ray Damm added a 24-yard field goal after the second forced fumble by the Cavs' defense for what would be the halftime score of 19-7.

Damm hit his second short field goal of 25 yards to open the third quarter, 22-7, after the points were set up by Keith McBride's 70-yard kick-off return. After a 58-yard Hawk kick-off return, Caleb Jordan ran the quarterback draw and carried the ball 28 yards to the endzone on the first play to cut it to 22-14.

UVA-Wise had the offensive answer. The Cavs drove 80 yards on 12 plays with the big run of 31 yards by Morgan before Hippeard fired a pass over the middle to Payne for the 13-yard touchdown, 29-14, at 4:25 left in the third.

The defense made sure to do its part to put the game away for UVA-Wise. Brandon Moore recovered the third forced fumble at the Shorter 48-yard line. Hippeard found Doe from six yards 10 plays later to put the game out of reach at 36-14. The Hawks scored one last touchdown on the next possession but was not enough for the 36-21 final.

UVA-Wise will have a much shorter road trip next Saturday night when the squad plays at Pikeville College for a 6:00 p.m. affair.

-Go Cavs-