Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
The Centre football team completed an undefeated regular season and locked up an outright Southern Athletic Association championship with a 45-15 win at Birmingham-Southern on Saturday in Birmingham, Ala.
The Colonels moved to 10-0 with the victory, marking the first time Centre completed a regular season unbeaten since an 8-0 campaign in 1955. The only other time in its history that Centre has won its first 10 games was the national championship season of 1921.
Leading the way on the ground for the Centre offense were Amoh Kumengisa (Lexington, Ky.) and Nolan Coulter (Knoxville, Tenn.), each scoring two touchdowns while picking up 115 and 63 yards respectively. Max Mazza (Cincinnati, Ohio) was the Colonels' top receiver with seven catches for 161 yards and a touchdown.
The Colonels led throughout the game, taking the lead when Kumengisa capped a 92-yard drive with a 17-yard touchdown in the first quarter. Centre then went up 14-0 when Coulter punched in a two-yard touchdown at the beginning of the second quarter.
Birmingham-Southern cut the margin to 14-7 when Austin Martin hooked up with Michael Cowan on a 27-yard touchdown on the ensuing drive, but it would be the last points the Panthers would get until the game was well out of hand in the fourth quarter.
After the BSC touchdown, Centre went on to pull away with 17 more second quarter points. The Colonels went 65 yards in seven plays with Jake Johnson (Louisville, Ky.) finishing on a seven-yard touchdown, then capitalized on a BSC fumble in its own territory for a Coulter touchdown to go up 28-7. A Selwyn Mallah (Lawrenceville, Ga.) interception on the next Panther possession helped set Preston Cahill up for a 20-yard field goal to give Centre a 31-7 halftime lead.
The second half brought more of the same when Heath Haden (Knoxville, Tenn.) hooked up with Mazza on a 52-yard touchdown in the third quarter, followed by Kumengisa breaking free for a 74-yard touchdown to put Centre up 45-7 with 14:10 to play. Southern added a late Teddre Williams touchdown to arrive at the final total.
On the defensive side of the ball, Centre was led by Andrew Busby (Chattanooga, Tenn.) with 10 tackles, including a tackle for loss. Anthony Kersey (Winchester, Ky.) and Trey Yeager (Danville, Ky.) each added seven tackles for the Colonels.
Centre moves to 10-0 on the year and 6-0 in SAA play while Birmingham-Southern wraps up the year at 3-7 overall and 3-3 in the conference. The Colonels will now wait to discover their postseason fate when the NCAA holds its Division III Football Selection Show on NCAA.com at 6 p.m. on Sunday.