Football Drops Conference Opener at Mars Hill

MARS HILL, N.C. – The Catawba College football team dropped the South Atlantic Conference opener to the Mars Hill Lions 38-7 at Meares Stadium on Saturday afternoon. 

The Lions used a run-heavy attack to take down the Catawba Indians in the conference-opening contest. MHU rushed 47 times for 332 yards and four scores. 

The home team went 90 yards in under two minutes using four plays to score the opening touchdown on their first possession. The drive was capped by a 37-yard run to put them up early, 7-0. 

Catawba struggled to get in a rhythm offensively on Saturday, and the Indians went three-and-out on their first four possessions. Mars Hill took advantage by scoring on back-to-back drives late in the first quarter and to start the second quarter. With 13:07 left before halftime, the Lions held a 21-0 lead. 

After another quick possession, the Catawba offense was forced to punt at their own 35-yard line. The kick was blocked, setting Mars Hill up with good field position. Catawba's defense was able to limit MHU to a field goal as the score moved to 24-0 with 9:48 left in the half. 

On the next offensive possession for Catawba, the Indians were able to pick up a first down and move the ball into Lions territory. Later in the drive, Catawba faced a third down and one, but the play was blown up in the backfield to bring up fourth down. Catawba caught a break after a delay of game made it fourth and nine, but on the punt attempt, Mars Hill roughed the punter, Clayton Crile. This kept the drive alive with an automatic first down. 

Five plays later, the drive stalled again at the MHU 36-yard line. Crile lined up for a 53-yard field goal attempt, but the kick missed short to keep the score at 24-0 going into halftime. 

In the second half, Mars Hill continued to pound the ball on the ground and used another rushing touchdown late in the third quarter to extend their lead to 31-0. 

With 6:49 left in the fourth quarter, MHU ran for their fourth score of the day to make it 38-0. 

Catawba finally got on the board with two and a half minutes to play when Ridge Jacobs found wide receiver Will Sheehan for a 53-yard touchdown pass. 

Jacobs came in to relieve Hill about five minutes into the third quarter on a third and goal and had his second pass attempt of the game picked off. After the interception, Jacobs completed five passes for 89 yards and a score highlighted by the 53-yard strike to Sheehan. 

The football team will play their first home game of the 2022 season next Saturday against Tusculum at 4:00 p.m. for Family Weekend.