GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Lenoir-Rhyne's Kyle Dugger forced and recovered the game-winning fumble in the third overtime period as the 23rd-ranked Bears defeated Tusculum 55-52 Saturday afternoon in the South Atlantic Conference football opener at Pioneer Field.

After the Tusculum defense held Lenoir-Rhyne (2-1, 1-0 SAC) out of the end zone to start the third overtime, Hunter Haire connected on a 24-yard field goal to give Bears a 55-52 lead.

On Tusculum's first offensive play of the third OT period, quarterback Luke Lancaster completed a five-yard pass to Ken Funnye with his initial progress stopping at the LR 20. On the play, Dugger came out of the pile with the football sending the Bears into delirium. The officials conferred and ruled Funnye was stripped of the ball before his knee touched the ground and ending the game.

In a contest that was decided by a big defensive play at the end, the game was dominated by both offenses as the two programs combined for 107 points, 1,161 yards, 65 first downs and established three school records. The teams also combined for eight turnovers (TC 4, LR 4).

L-R rushed for 591 yards on a school single-game record 89 attempts. Bears' quarterback Evin Sims ran for a career-best 252 yards on 29 attempts, including four touchdowns. His 252-yard effort is the third-best rushing tally in Bears' history. Teammate Kristaan Ivory also ran for 213 yards and two scores.

Tusculum established team records with 35 first downs and 74 pass attempts. TC sophomore quarterback Luke Lancaster passed for 452 yards and six touchdowns, which are the second most TD tosses in school history. Lancaster accounted for 42 completions on a school-record 73 attempts.

TC senior Justin Houston hauled in a 15 catches for 155 yards and a career-best three touchdowns, tied for the second most ever in a Tusculum single-game. Teammate Ken Funnye posted 182 yards on 13 receptions and a pair of touchdowns.

A 45-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Dugger early the fourth quarter gave the Bears' their a 38-23 lead. TC answered with an 11-play, 75-yard drive which included a gritty nine-yard run on fourth down by Josh Jackson. Lancaster later connected on an eight-yard TD pass to Houston for his second score of the day. Will Tommie's kick trimmed the L-R lead to 38-30 with 10:45 left in regulation.

Tusculum's defense stopped the Bears on their next possession and forced a punt as the Pioneers took over at their own 31-yard line. TC drove to the Lenoir-Rhyne one-yard line, but the Pioneers stopped TC on fourth down as Cliff Barrett and Jerry Shippy came away with the hit to stop Jackson short of the end zone with 4:55 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Lenoir-Rhyne converted a first down and tried to run out as much clock as possible and forced Tusculum to use all of its timeouts. The Bears would punt as TC took over at their own 40 with 2:30 remaining.

With no timeouts, Tusculum moved down the field and with 39.7 seconds remaining, Jackson ran up the middle for a one-yard touchdown to pull the Pioneers to within a point. Lancaster found Houston just across the goal line on a pass for the two-point conversion to tie the game at 38-38.

Each team scored a TD in the first two overtime periods. Ivory scored on a three-yard TD carry for the Bears, while the Pioneers answered with a 15-yard scoring pass from Lancaster to Funnye. In the second overtime, TC scored on its first offensive play as Houston hauled in a 25-yard scoring strike to give the Pioneers their first lead of the game at 52-45. But L-R tied the game as Sims scampered in from three yards out.

Sims scored two of his game-high four touchdowns in the opening quarter on runs of two and 14 yards. Lancaster connected on a 74-yard touchdown pass to Funnye for the Pioneers as TC trailed 14-7 after one quarter of play.

In the second quarter Ivory scored on the first of two 3-yard touchdown runs on the afternoon. Justin Houston followed with a 10-yard TD reception to pull TC to within a touchdown at 21-14 with 6:36 left before halftime.

The Bears answered with a 31-yard field from Haire with 1:40 remaining in the quarter as Lenoir-Rhyne led 24-14 at the break.

Lenoir-Rhyne took the opening possession of the second half and got to the TC 11 following a 64-yard run by Ivory. But on the next play, TC's Brandyn Bartlett forced and recovered a fumble when he stripped the ball out of the grasp of Michael Patrick at the five-yard line.

After a Tusculum punt, Sims reeled off a 53-yard touchdown run up the far sideline to give the Bears their largest lead of the game at 31-14 at the 13:14 mark of the third quarter.

Tusculum drove to midfield on its next possession before the drive stalled. On fourth and four, Hunter Cantrell pulled off a fake punt and passed to an open Evan Altizer for a 19-yard gain to the LR 29. Six plays later, Lancaster fired a pass to Houston the end zone but the ball deflected into the air, but was hauled in by a diving Ken Drummond for the four-yard score. The snap on the extra point attempt was low and blocked by Paul Sloan as TC trailed 31-20 with 8:26 to go in the third period.

For a second time in the game, the Bears got to the shadow of the Tusculum goal line but fumbled as Peoples forced and recovered the loose ball.

Tusculum was forced to punt, but on the play, LR fumbled the return and was recovered by Evan Gates at the LR 36. TC converted the second chance into points as Tommie connected on a 30-yard field goal as TC trimmed the deficit to 31-23 at the 1:20 mark of the third.

Peoples led all players with a career-high 14 tackles for the Pioneers, including one for loss. Bartlett added 13 tackles, forced two fumbles and recovered another, while L'Keith Brown finished with 11 stops and a forced a turnover.

Cliff Barrett led the Bears with 13 tackles, while Jordan Forney accounted for 11 tackles and a sack.

Lancaster's 452-yard passing performance was his second 400-plus effort of the young season and the ninth-most in Tusculum history. His six touchdown tosses were one shy of the school record (7, Bo Cordell vs. Brevard in 2010).

Houston's three TD receptions gives him 19 for his career, which are now tied for third most by a Pioneer. He moves into sole possession of second place in TC history with 2,682 receiving yards (246 shy of school record 2,928 held by Rashaad Carter, 2008-2011). Saturday was also his 12th game with 100 receiving yards, which is tied for the most in school history.

Tusculum returns to action next Saturday when they travel to Newberry for a 4 p.m. SAC contest against the Wolves.