Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - Senior John Byrd (Manassas Park, Va./Manassas Park) had 22 carries for 99 yards and two touchdowns, while junior Marcus Mitchell (Chesapeake, Va./Grassfield) recorded 12 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and one quarterback sack as the Randolph-Macon football team dropped a 31-24 decision at Methodist Saturday afternoon.
The Yellow Jackets (1-2) ran 85 plays and out-gained the Monarchs (2-1) 367-308 in total offense, including an advantage of 224-159 on the ground.
R-MC recovered an MU fumble on the first play from scrimmage. The Yellow Jackets drove 59 yards in seven plays, as freshman Billy Sheehan (Round Hill, Va./Woodgrove) hit freshman Eric Hoy (Clayton, N.C./Clayton) on a short shuffle pass that went 22 yards for a touchdown, giving R-MC a 7-0 advantage three minutes into the contest.
The Monarchs put together an 84-yard scoring drive to knot the score at 7-7 with 5:40 remaining in the first period.
A 24-yard field goal by junior Seth Yurgel (Fredericksburg, Va./Courtland) capped a 15-play, 69-yard scoring drive as R-MC took a 10-7 lead late in the first quarter. During the drive, the Yellow Jackets faced a fourth-and-nine at the MU 45. Junior punter Colin McFadden (Chesterfield, Va./Manchester) faked and ran for 25 yards around the right side to help get R-MC into field goal range.
Following an MU punt, the Yellow Jackets had a 66-yard scoring drive to go up 17-7 with 9:49 left in the second quarter. The final 58 yards of the drive came on the ground, with Byrd going into the end zone from nine yards out to complete the drive.
The Monarchs turned a short punt into a touchdowns and converted a field goal after an interception to even the count at 17-17 at halftime.
MU picked up a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter and took a 31-17 advantage to the final period.
Senior quarterback Bubby Morgan (Stafford, Va./Mountain View) came off the bench to lead the Yellow Jackets on an eight-play, 60-yard scoring drive as Byrd took it in from 17 yards out to make it 31-24 with 9:10 left in the fourth quarter.
The R-MC defense held MU on a three-and-out and took over on its own 48. The Yellow Jackets drove to the MU 12, but were stopped on fourth down with 6:21 remaining. Another three-and-out gave R-MC the ball on its 45. The Yellow Jackets drove to the MU 19, but were again stopped on fourth down with 1:23 left. The R-MC defense held one more time, with the Yellow Jackets taking over on the MU 43 with 18 seconds left. An interception in the end zone sealed the win for the Monarchs.
Sophomore JP Redmond (Midlothian, Va./Monacan) had 11 tackles, including a pair of quarterback sacks for the Yellow Jackets.
Randolph-Macon is off next Saturday and begins ODAC play at home on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 1 p.m. against Emory & Henry at Day Field.