The University of the Cumberlands Football team (5-1; 2-0; #16) rolled up a 35-28 victory over the #11 nationally ranked Union College Bulldogs on Saturday, October 11, 2008. Going into the “Dog-pound”, the game was considered an NAIA show-down and a Mid-South Conference East must win. With the Brass Lantern Trophy in hand, Cumberlands ended the talk with a hard fought battle triumphant in the end.

The Bulldogs opened up showing just how tough their defense was as they sent Sean Mounts (Norris, TN) back to punt. Upon receiving possession, QB Mike Brinkley was hurried and threw his fifth interception of the season to Victor Smith (Knoxville, TN). Cumberlands took advantage of the situation, ran a few small rushing plays, and then sent Freddy West (Mulberry, FL) out wide with a 24 yard rush for the first touchdown of the game. Hunter Meade’s (Bristol, VA) exceptional leg put it through the uprights for the Patriots to go up 7-0. Three plays later, Brinkley threw his second interception of the game as Eric Tisdol (Eastman, GA) took away the pick.

The #1 linebacker in the nation out of high school, Willie Williams would step up for the Bulldogs. On a failed pitch attempt from Kyle King (St. Cloud, FL), Williams would pick up the fumbled pigskin, stiff arm the referee for an extra block, and go 40 yards for a touchdown to tie the game up. Directly after the Bulldogs score, the Patriots attempted to surprise Union with a quick pass to Justin Pritchett (Dayton, TN). After a 77 yard run, the ball was deflected on the 3 yard line where Union recovered.

Half way through the second quarter, the Patriots racked up first downs to allow King to connect on a dump pass to Ricky Walker (Thomasville, GA) for a 15 yard TD. On the very next series, Union forced an answer to the Patriots’ score as Terence Pollock capped off their drive with a 3 yard rushing touchdown. Once again, the score was tied at 14. With only 16 seconds left in the half, the Patriots were at Union’s 3 yard line with third down. With the reverse, Sean Mounts was able to gain those three yards to earn another touchdown and go up 21-14. With a last ditch effort, Chris Bethel from Union attempted the long pass as Eric Tisdol came up again with another interception for the day.

In the third, Union’s Brinkley completed a 36 yard pass to Rolando Dyer to once again, tie the game up; 21-21. Rush by rush, the clock ran as Union’s Jacob Appleby missed the 50 yard boot by just a few inches to the right of the post to begin the final quarter. The Patriots were within field goal range with a fourth and nine situation on Union’s 28 yard line, but opted to go the “long hard way” for their score. In the air, King’s pass was right on Berryhill’s shoulder for a 28 yard completion touchdown to go up 28-21. Seven plays and 61 yards later, Brinkley lobbed a pass to Callahan from 21 yards out as Callahan dived in for the touchdown catch to tie the game up with 6:48 left. Berryhill once again was sent out, but this time ran the slant pattern. After the catch, Berryhill cut to the outside and ran 45 yards to Union’s 4 yard line. After a Ricky Walker rush to make it first and goal, Freddy West barrelled in for the final score of the game to make it 35-28.

Kyle King was named the NAPA Auto Parts player of the game with what was said to be one of the best performances in a Patriots uniform. King had 9 completions in 15 attempts for 232 yards and 2 touchdowns. Those 232 passing yards put him just over 2000 passing yards in his career. King was also second in rushing with 6 carries for 53 yards. Leading the rushing unit was Freddy West with 15 carries for a total of 106 yards and 2 touchdowns. Out of the 9 completions, Maurice Berryhill caught four for 92 total yards and one touchdown. Berryhill also added an astonishing 119 yards on 5 kickoff returns and 3 yards on a punt return to have a total of 229 all-purpose yards on the day. For the defense, both PJ Hughes (Montezuma, GA) and Travis Thurmond (Statham, GA) ended up with 9 tackles. Corey Maddox (Tifton, GA) walked away with the only sack of the day, as Eric Tisdol recorded two interceptions and Victor Smith one.

Head Patriot Coach John Bland didn’t take his sigh of relief until the final second of the game. “As far as our five fumbles go, that is something we can control. We have to get better in that aspect of the game. Their defense confused me all day. I thought from time to time that there were 12 or 13 players on the field, but it was just their formation. The few times that we could read their defense, we were able to call the big plays in and gain some big yards or a score. We converted 3 of our 5 fourth down situations and scored on 2 of them. Shovon Patton’s hit to stop their last series is the definition of Cumberlands football; hitting hard and hitting often. We are excited for Georgetown this coming weekend and hope to tack another win on our record.”

The University of the Cumberlands Patriots will continue their season as they welcome Georgetown College to Williamsburg, KY on Saturday, October 18, 2008 with a 1:30 PM EST kickoff time. Georgetown College is currently 2-3 overall with a 0-2 record in the Mid-South Conference. In addition, at half-time, Cumberlands will honor the 20th reunion of the 1988 football team, the only undefeated football team in school history and the first to advance to an NAIA Play-off game.