LAGRANGE, Ga. -- Xavier Adams ran for two touchdowns and threw for two others, E'Montie Dears racked up 143 yards on the ground, and the Methodist defense picked off Connor Blair four times en route to a 43-26 win at LaGrange on Saturday afternoon.
 
LaGrange actually outgained the Methodist offense, 466 to 401, but four Panther turnovers and three Monarch sacks helped keep the LaGrange offense in check. For Dears, the 143 yards marked his third straight game with at least 140 yards rushing and upped his season total to 715 yards.
 
The Panthers opened the scoring when Markeis Levatte pulled in an 11-yard pass from Blair at the 9:09 mark of the first quarter. LaGrange went for a two-point conversion but fumbled and Keshawn Smith scooped up the loose ball and went 98 yards the other way to make it 6-2.
 
MU went ahead 16-6 at the end of the first quarter as Adams scored on a pair of short touchdown runs followed by successful PATs by Landon Cheviron. MU's lead grew to 23-6 on Adams' first touchdown pass, a 26-yarder to Valdani Bastien, at the 11:51 mark. Bastien's touchdown reception was set up by Kyle Colborn's interception of Blair at the Methodist 44 yard line.
 
The Panthers cut their deficit to 23-13 at the half thanks to an eight-yard pass from Blair to Josh Hardrick that capped a 91-yard drive.
 
In the third quarter, Deo'Vont'e Doe scored on a five-yard run and Dylan Cummings hauled in an eight-yard pass from Adams to stretch MU's lead to 37-13 with 2:40 left in the third quarter. LaGrange scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to pull as close as 37-26 with under 10 minutes to play, but Daiquan Hunt intercepted Blair on LC's next drive and Dears salted the game away with a three-yard scoring plunge late in the period.
 
Adams finished 17 of 31 passing for 201 yards with the two touchdowns and no interceptions. He added 42 yards on 10 carries. Dears' 143 yards came on 40 carries, a new single-game record at MU, a week after he set the single-game yardage record with 208 vs. Greensboro.
 
Bastien led MU with 56 yards receiving on three receptions, and Cummings had four catches for 31 yards.
 
Mark Stanford led MU with eight tackles, while Hunt, Kris Evans and Smith had six apiece. Hunt, Evans, Smith and Colborn accounted for the four interceptions. Travon Johnson had 1.5 sacks, and Evans added one.
 
Blair finished 29 of 57 passing for 351 yards with four touchdowns and four picks. He also gained a team-high 62 yards rushing on 10 carries. Levatte had 65 yards on seven receptions and Jaylen Turner added 64 yards on three catches.
 
Khary Paige had nine tackles for the Panthers and Darius Jordan added seven with a pass breakup.
 
The Monarchs have one game left on the schedule, as they will make up their previously postponed game against Averett next week at 1:00 pm.