aBLUEFIELD – DaMarcus Wimbush became Bluefield College's all-time tackles leader and was crowned Homecoming King. Aidan Wilder set a single-game passing record with 456 yards, and Lowell Patron Jr., set a single game receiving record with 205 yards, but the Rams dropped their homecoming game to St. Andrews University 70-54, Saturday night at Mitchell Stadium.
St. Andrews struck first with a 22-yard field goal with 8:48 to play in the first. The Rams responded and took the lead when Aiden Wilder connected with Jackson Link on a 42-yard pass and Tanner Griffith booted the PAT to make it 7-3.
SAU marched right back down the field and retook the lead when they scored a TD with 1:06 to go in the quarter. Tyrice Henry blocked the extra point and it as 16-7.
Wilder ran 18 yards for a score a minute into the second quarter and Griffith's kick made it 16-14. SAU added a 33-yard field goal with 10:31 to play, but less than a minute later Wilder threw a 27-yard touchdown to Lowell Patron Jr. Griffith's kick put the Rams back on top 21-19 with 9:31 remaining in the half.
St. Andrews answered with a long pass play and converted on the two-point conversion to retake the lead 27-21 with 7:32 in the second. Late in the half the Rams punted to the Knights and on the return St. Andrews fumbled, giving BC the ball in SAU territory. The drive stalled and Tanner Griffith booted a 24-yard field goal to bring the Rams to within three at 27-24 with 2:49 left before half.
A BC fumbled punt with less than two minutes to go in the half gave St. Andrews the ball in the Rams' redzone and a scrambling TD run on the ensuing play by the Knights gave the visitors a 35-24 lead after the successful two-point conversion run.
The kickoff return put the Rams in SAU territory and the Rams quickly moved the ball deep into Knights' territory. A Patron Jr., pass to Greg Ebron moved the ball into the redzone and the Rams later moved inside the five yard line.with less than a minute on the clock. The drive stalled and Griffith's 21-yard field goal with 33.3 seconds on the clock made it 35-27 in favor of St. Andrews. Just when the Rams thought the half was over SAU drove back down field and on a QB run from 30-yards out, scored with 7.1 seconds to go. The kick made it 42-27.
Wilder passed for 195 yards in the first half and Patron Jr., had five catches in the first half for 100 yards.
The Rams received the second half kickoff but on the first play fumbled the ball to St Andrews and the Knights took over on the BC 28 yard line. Two plays later SAU was in the end zone on another TD pass that made the score 49-21 after the PAT. SAU added another score later in the quarter to make it 56-27.
The Rams would not quit. Wilder hooked up with Patron Jr., on a pass to the corner of the end zone from 35-yards out and Griffith's kick made it 56-34 with 3:55 to play in the third quarter. St. Andrews bobbled the ensuing kickoff and Chris Cruz fell on the ball in the end zone for the score. The two-point attempt failed but BC drew even closer at 56-40.
The Rams, trailing 63-40, drew closer in the final minutes on another Wilder TD pass to Greg Ebron with 3:45 to play. The Ram attempted an onside kick, but the SAU player took it in the air and returned it for a score. The kick made it 70-48. BC bounced right back and Wilder tossed another TD to Patron Jr., from 15 yards out. The two-point conversion failed with 2:40 to play it was 70-54.
With just over three minutes left in the third Wimbush got his ninth tackle of the game, which was the 276th of his career. He passed Frank Brooks, who played at BC from 2012-16.
Wilder finished the night 29-of-51 in the passing department for 456 yards with five touchdown passes and no interceptions. Patron Jr. was on the receiving end of nine of those passes for 205 yards and three scores. Greg Ebron caught six passes for 100 yards and Jaquan Ebron hauled in five passes for 90 yards. Tavis White ran 14 times for 53 yards and Wilder carried for 48 yards which gave him 504 yards of total offense on the night.
Wimbush finished with 12 tackles and two tackles-for-loss and Tyrice Henry had eight stops for the Rams.
Bluefield's scheduled game next week with Cincinnati Christian has been cancelled as CCU announced earlier in the week it would be ceasing operation at the end of the semester. As a result the Eagles' football team ended its football season with three games remaining.
The Rams' next game will be Nov. 16 at Point.
At halftime, homecoming festivities saw Wimbush crowned as Homecoming King and volleyball player Paige Fisher crowned as Homecoming Queen.
