Catawba Rolls Past Livingstone 44-19 In Mayor's Cup
SALISBURY, N.C. – The Catawba College football team rushed for 259 yards and forced three interceptions in a commanding 44-19 win in the return of the Mayor's Cup over Livingstone College on Saturday night. Christian Campbell picked off two passes and returned one to the house, and Leroy Bracey Jr. rushed for 115 yards and a score in the win.
The Catawba football team used a dominant rushing attack to take down the Blue Bears in the first Mayor's Cup Classic played since 2013. The Catawba Indians rushed 49 times for 259 yards for an average of over five yards per carry.
Speedster Leroy Bracey Jr. was efficient out of the backfield for Catawba as he rushed 11 times for 115 yards and a score as well as a game-long, 36-yard rush. Catawba's offensive attack also had three other rushers with ten or more attempts in the contest. Daniel Parker and LJ Turner each had 11 carries for a combined 94 yards, and freshman Marquece Williams toted ten times for 50 yards and a score.
Parker scored the first touchdown of the season for the Catawba football team when he punched it in from four yards out to tie the game at 7-7 with 5:01 to play in the first.
On the defensive end, Catawba settled in after a shaky start when Livingstone scored just four and a half minutes into the game and put up 119 yards of offense in the opening quarter. The Indians responded by limiting Livingstone to just 21 yards in the second and third quarter to assert their control over the game.
Linebacker Christian Campbell turned the tides in late in the second quarter when he stepped in front of a short pass across the middle and returned it 27 yards to the house. This put Catawba in front 17-7 and gave his team all the momentum they needed going into the second half.
The Catawba ground attack wore down the Blue Bears in the third quarter as they outgained Livingstone 145-2 in the quarter.
Will Sheehan and Kobe Christian made two of Catawba's five completions on the night, but both receptions went for scores inside the redzone. Sheehan's touchdown reception came at the 10:35 mark in the third, and Kobe Christian's five-yard touchdown reception came with under five minutes left in the quarter and put Catawba up 30-7.
Freshman Marquece Williams broke through for a 20-yard scamper to put an exclamation point on his first collegiate game.
Bracey Jr. put the finishing touches on the game with a 9-yard sprint to the end zone.
The Catawba Indians were able to close things out as the defense pinned their ears back and applied pressure in the backfield. Catawba finished the night with ten tackles for loss, five sacks, and three interceptions. Jarius Jackson accounted for two of those sacks, and Joe Camara recorded 2.5 tackles for loss with 1.5 sacks. Also getting in the backfield was CJ Brown, who had a sack, Jordan Gregg had one and a half tackles for loss, and Mike Jones made a stop behind the line of scrimmage.
Linebacker Christian Campbell picked off two passes adding one in the third quarter after his pick-six. Also picking off a pass was freshman Zy Brown who muscled the ball away from Livingstone in the end zone on the last play of the first half.
Catawba will be back in action next Saturday on the road at Shorter University for a noon kick-off.