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Tusculum rallies for 14-10 victory at Wingate

Tusculum rallies for 14-10 victory at Wingate
Box score

WINGATE, N.C. --- Senior quarterback Kyle Dickey tossed a pair of touchdowns, while the Tusculum defense fended off a last second scoring drive as the Pioneers held on for a 14-10 South Atlantic Conference win at Wingate Saturday afternoon at Irwin Belk Stadium.

The Tusculum (3-5, 2-3 SAC) snaps a 20-game road losing streak and is the Pioneers first win at Wingate since 2002. TC's road losing skid was the fifth longest active drought, dating back to TC's 54-44 win at Catawba in 2010.

Tusculum's L'Keith Brown recorded a game-high 14 tackles, while senior defensive end Caushaud Lyons finished with seven stops, including 3.5 for loss, a pair of sacks and five quarterback hurries.

Dickey replaced redshirt freshman Malcolm Pendergrass early in the second quarter when he was injured following his 12-yard run to convert a first down.

Trailing 10-0, freshman Evan Altizer's 35-yard punt return set up the Pioneers at the WU 26-yard line. Dickey extended the drive with his 23-yard run on third down to the WU 7. On the next play, Dickey found senior Deon Hicks in the end zone as he made a shoe-string catch to trim the Wingate lead to 10-7 with 1:41 remaining in the first half.

The Tusculum defense forced Wingate to punt on its first five possessions of the second half. Meanwhile, the Pioneers put together a nine-play, 64-yard drive, capped off by a 23-yard TD pass from Dickey to junior Justin Houston with 14:01 remaining in the game.

TC freshman punter Hunter Cantrell recorded four punts inside the 20-yard line on the day, but none better than his punt, which was downed at the one-yard line with 2:25 left in the contest.

With no timeouts left and trailing 14-10, Wingate converted on fourth down twice to get to the TC 19-yard line. One third down and five with 10.2 seconds remaining, Wingate quarterback Kyle Johnson threw to the left corner of the end zone for Bryan Caffrey, but TC redshirt freshman Akeem Peoples broke up the pass to preserve the lead. Johnson's pass on fourth down sailed high out of bounds as the Pioneers held on for its first road win three years, 11 months and 10 days.

Dickey went 18-for-31 for 125 yards and two touchdowns and was sacked only once. Kyle Johnson went 21-for-42 for 217 yards with an interception and was sacked on four occasions.

Houston finished with 12 receptions for 82 yards, while senior tight end Wesley Powell accounted for four catches for 41 yards. Sophomore running back finished with 50 rushing yards on 11 carries, all coming in the second half.

Wingate's Jordan Berry tallied six receptions fro 62 yards, while Jalen Gavin finished with five grabs for 75 yards. WU running back Nestor Lantigua rushed for 65 yards on 18 carries, including his nine-yard TD run in the second quarter, spotting the Bulldogs a 10-0 advantage.

Tusculum senior LiRonta Archie posted a dozen tackles, while freshman Matt Simon made eight stops, including a sack. Sophomore Brandon Bartlett also contributed eight tackles in the victory.

Wingate's Eric Mapoles led the Bulldogs with 13 tackles and Jon Jimenez added nine stops in the loss.

Tusculum returns home next Saturday when the Pioneers host UNC Pembroke for Senior Day at 1:30 p.m.

- TC -

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