Methodist University Athletics

DANVILLE, Va. -- The Methodist football rallied from a first-half deficit for the second week in a row, but fell at Averett, 41-33, on Saturday night at Daly Field.
 
Dylan DeGroot threw for a career-high 332 yards and both Emontie Dears and E'Mond Brown eclipsed 100 yards rushing as MU rallied from a 21-0 deficit in the second quarter, but a pair of late penalties wiped out a potential scoring chance as MU falls to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the USA South. Averett improved to 1-3 overall and 1-0 in league play.
 
Despite falling behind by three scores early, MU battled back and DeGroot's one-yard touchdown run with 7:40 left in the game made the score 41-33 after a successful two-point conversion.
 
After an Averett three-and-out on its ensuing possession, MU took possession at its own 17-yard line with 5:26 on the clock. The Monarchs quickly escaped the shadow of their own end zone thanks to a DeGroot-to-Dylan Cummings pass play that covered 49 yards to the Averett 30. Runs of five and six yards by Brown gave the Monarchs a fresh set of downs inside the Cougars' 20-yard line, and it appeared MU would have a chance to tie after DeGroot hooked up with Cummings on a 19-yard scoring pass the very next play, but a holding penalty wiped out the score.
 
After an incomplete pass and a rush for no gain, MU once again scored, this time on a DeGroot-to-Anthony Radke pass of 16 yards, but an illegal block negated that score and MU wound up missing a 38-yard field goal with 2:53 on the clock.
 
Averett managed just six yards on its next possession before Kyle Colborn picked off Kelly Hall at midfield giving the Monarchs one more possession with 1:59 to play. A 20-yard pass play to Radke gave  the Monarchs a fresh set of downs at the Averett 29-yard line. Penalties on both teams resulted in MU facing 2nd and five from the AU 24, but the Monarchs ended the game with three straight incompletions to turn the ball over on downs and Averett took a knee to close out the game.
 
Averett had raced out to its three score lead on a Travis Jones 39-yard run, a Brenden Hughes 14-yard reception and Hall's one-yard run for a 21-0 lead less than three minutes into the second quarter. The Monarchs battled back as Dears scored on a three-yard plunge, and Tevis Dasher returned an interception 26 yards to make it 21-12 as both PATs failed.
 
The Cougars closed out the first half by going 80 yards in four plays, capped by Michael Barbour's nine-yard run to make it 28-12 heading to the locker room.
 
In the second half, Terrance Owens opened the scoring with a 43-yard touchdown reception from Hall for a 35-12 lead at the 10:02 mark of the third quarter.
 
Radke made it 35-19, hauling in a 16-yard touchdown pass from DeGroot, but Barbour answered with a four-yard touchdown reception to push AU's lead to 41-19 with 4:53 left in the third. Dedric Bowman closed out the scoring for the day as he caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from DeGroot to make it 41-25 later in the quarter.
 
The Monarchs out-gained Averett, 597-510, gained 10 more first downs (31-21) and committed one fewer turnover (3-2), but committed 13 penalties to just six for the Cougars, including the two key infractions late in the game.
 
DeGroot finished 22-of-35 passing for 332 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions for his best performance of the season. Dears gained 144 yards on 34 carries and scored once, while Brown ended the day with 101 yards on 17 carries.
 
Bowman led the receiving corps with 100 yards on four catches, Cummings had 84 yards on five grabs, and Radke had eight receptions for 82 yards.
 
Defensively, Mark Stanford led the way with 10 tackles, and Bryan Bing added six. Dasher, who scored for the second time in as many weeks, added four tackles with a pair of sacks, and Zayd Stivender had four stops, including 1.5 for loss and 0.5 sacks.
 
For Averett, Hall was 14-of-23 passing for 250 yards with three touchdowns and a pair of interceptions. Travis Jones led the ground attack, gaining 133 yards on just eight carries with one score. Myles Bennett had 83 yards on a pair of receptions.
 
Four different Cougars had at least 10 tackles, as Caleb Williams (13), Kevin Norcott (13), Hunter Shepard (11) and Michael Reives (10) all reached double digits. Don Warren had nine stops and 2.5 sacks.
 
The Monarchs are back home next Saturday when they host N.C. Wesleyan at 1:00 pm for Homecoming.