Catawba Falters On the Road at Shorter
ROME. GA – The Catawba College football team was defeated on the road 34-21 by the Shorter University Hawks at Ben Brady Stadium in Rome, Georgia on Saturday afternoon.
Shorter outgained Catawba 461-198 on offense and had 25 first downs to Catawba's 15.
1st Quarter
The Shorter Hawks ran 27 offensive plays for 159 total yards while Catawba ran just three plays for eight yards in the opening quarter. Despite that gap, Catawba and the Hawks sat tied at 7-7 going into the second quarter.
After Shorter went 75 yards in 14 plays on their first possession, Kujuan Pryor returned the ensuing kickoff 88-yards to the house to tie the game at 7-7 with 7:15 to play in the first quarter.
The Hawks looked to threaten again, but Zy Brown defended a pass on third and 11 to stall Shorter's next drive at the Catawba 33-yard line. The Hawks attempted a field goal, and Jordan Gregg got a piece of the kick after racing off the edge to keep the game knotted up 7-7.
2nd Quarter
The home team continued to march down the field as the game moved into the second quarter. Shorter went 77 yards in nine plays on their third drive of the game to regain the lead once again, 13-7. A bobbled snap led to the point-after-attempt to be unsuccessful with 13:25 left before the half.
Catawba's next drive went just four plays before they were forced to punt the ball back to the Hawks. On their next possession, Shorter used another methodical, eight-play drive that went for 75 yards and ended in another score and PAT to make it a 20-7 game with 7:07 left in the first half.
That deficit widened after a mishap on a Catawba punt attempt on the next drive resulted in a Shorter safety, and the Hawks got a stop and a score in three and a half minutes of game clock to boost their lead to 28-7. Shorter's extra point attempt was no good.
On a must-score drive for Catawba, freshman quarterback Kameron Hill was able to lead the Catawba Indians down the field in eight plays and capped it off with a 19-yard strike to Kujuan Pryor. At the half. Catawba trailed 28-14.
3rd Quarter
After a high-scoring first half, neither team was able to score in the third quarter. The Catawba defense slowed down Shorter and allowed just 56 yards in quarter number three. The Indians offense had a promising nine-play drive stall past midfield which gave Shorter possession going into the final quarter.
4th Quarter
Shorter did not waste much time adding to the lead in the fourth quarter. The Hawks went 44 yards in four plays for a touchdown to put the game out of reach at 34-14 with 11:43 left to play.
Kujuan Pryor was able to score for the third time of the day when he rushed for a four-yard score to bring the score to 34-21 with five minutes to play.
Pryor was the lone bright spot for Catawba's offense as he scored in three different facets on Saturday. The Lawndale, North Carolina product ended the day with five catches for 50 yards and a score, three carries for 21 yards and a score, and had the 88-yard kickoff return for a score.
Shorter ran out the remainder of the clock to end things at 34-21.
The Catawba football team will begin SAC play next Saturday at Mars Hill with a 1:00 p.m. kickoff.