Football | 11/10/2012 10:54:00 PM

Box Score NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- John Flanagan rushed for 156 yards and three touchdowns, including the go-ahead score with 2:44 left to play and the Methodist football team won its third straight game, 30-29, at Christopher Newport on Saturday night.
 
Flanagan's third and final touchdown of the day capped another come from behind win for the Monarchs, who after racing out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead, fell behind 23-14 by halftime and needed 16 fourth-quarter points to pull out the win.


James Bevans began the scoring for the Monarchs as he caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from Max Reber just 48 seconds into the game. Six minutes later, Flanagan ripped off a 72-yard touchdown run for a 14-0 lead by the 8:16 mark.

However, CNU scored the 23 unanswered points before the break to take a 23-14 lead into the locker room. Marcus Morrast connected with Rudy Rudolph for a 47-yard scoring strike at the 6:49 mark of the first quarter to halve the Monarch lead. He then added touchdown runs of one and 23 yards as the Captains built a 20-14 lead at the 10:47 mark of the second quarter. Mason Studer's PAT try following Morrast's second scoring run was no good.

Studer then added a 47-yardd field goal as time expired in the opening half for a nine-point lead.
 
After neither team managed to score in the third period, MU's Cody Ausherman pulled the Monarchs to within six points when he made good on a 27-yard field goal 11 seconds into the fourth quarter to make it a 23-17 game with 14:49 to play. Flangan made it 24-23 in favor of Methodist with a four-yard run at the 8:35 mark before Morrast tallied his third rushing TD of the day, a 19-yard effort, to put the Captains back up (29-24) with 6:34 to play.

Flanagan then scored his game-winner, capping an 11-play, 64-yard drive with a two-yard plunge with just 2:44 to play.
 
On CNU's ensuing drive, the Captains were able to move to ball to the MU 36 yard line, but being just out of field goal range, the Captains elected to go for it on 4^th-and-2 and Morrast's pass fell incomplete, allowing the Monarchs to run out the clock.
 
Flanagan's season-high rushing total came on just 17 carries and he averaged 9.2 yards per tote. Darius Page added 55 yards on seven carries as the Monarchs racked up 238 yards on the ground. Reber finished 17-of-30 passing for 176 yards with the one touchdown. Bevans and Vaughn Cross each caught six passes for 75 and 51 yards, respectively.

Defensively, LeTovis Davis led the team with 16 tackles, while D.J. Payne added 14 stops and Jonathan Fulmore finished with 10 tackles.

Morrast finished with 100 yards on 15 carries and three touchdowns for the Captains. Paul Dukes added 83 yards on 26 carries. Morrast was also held to just 9-of-23 passing for 150 yards with a TD. Rudolph was his favorite target, hauling in four passes for 76 yards.
 
On defense, CNU was led by Evan Moog who racked up 17 tackles and added a forced fumble and fumble recovery. Michael Ruckman chipped in 10 tackles and John Johnson added seven stops.


With the win, the Monarchs finish the season at 5-5, the most wins that a Methodist team has recorded in a season since 2007 when it also finished 5-5.