DANVILLE, Va. -- Averett's Sean Bowman gained 227 yards on 36 carries and scored five touchdowns on the ground as the Cougars defeated the Methodist football team, 35-6, on Saturday evening at Campbell Stadium.
 
Bowman scored on runs of three, seven, 54, one and 23 yards and the Averett (2-2, 2-0 USA South) defense took advantage of five MU (0-4, 0-2) turnovers in the win.
 
Methodist forced a punt on the first possession of the contest, but a fumble on the Monarchs' first play from scrimmage gave Averett the ball at MU's 26 yard line. The Methodist defense came up with a fumble recovery of its own on Averett's first play, but returned the ball to the Cougars on an interception on the very next play.
 
Bowman opened the scoring with a three-yard run at the 10:24 mark of the first period for a 7-0 lead after Cole Westberry's PAT. Another MU fumble on the ensuing kickoff gave Averett the ball at the Monarchs' 20 yard line and Bowman score from seven yards out three plays later for a 14-0 lead.
 
A fourth first-quarter turnover by the Monarchs halted a drive in Averett territory, but the MU defense came up with a stop and forced an AU punt as each team settled down after the sloppy start.
 
The Monarchs got on the board with 3:06 left in the first half when Steve Keoni capped a 73-yard drive with a 25-yard pass to Josh Carter to make it 14-6 as Landon Cheviron's PAT was blocked.
 
Bowman's 54-yard run proved to be the only points of the third quarter as the Cougars went up 21-6 heading into the fourth quarter. Bowman added a pair of touchdown runs in the fourth period as Averett's defense continued to stifle the Monarch offense.
 
Averett outgained MU 403-214 and had 24 first downs to 14 for MU. Averett also held better than a 10-minute advantage in time of possession (35:51-24:09) and was 5 of 13 on third down while the Monarchs were 2 of 12.
 
Keoni was 15 of 30 passing for 142 yards with a score and an interception. E'Montie Dears gained 81 yards on 17 carries, and Carter had 55 yards receiving on four receptions.
 
Mark Stanford led the defense with 11 tackles, including 1.0 for loss with a forced fumble. Carlos McCracken added 10 stops with a tackle for loss, and Roderic Christian had nine tackles.
 
Christian Miles attempted just 12 passes for Averett, as the Cougars relied on Boman's ground game. Miles completed seven passes for 84 yards.
 
Dejon Brooks had eight tackles and in interception for Averett. Kevin Norcott added seven tackles and a fumble recovery, while Don Warren had five tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
 
Methodist will now enter is bye week before returning to action at Greensboro on Oct. 7 at 1 pm.