GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — Lenoir-Rhyne quarterback Khamoni Robinson passed for 280 yards and four touchdowns to lead the 24th-ranked Bears to a 28-7 win at Tusculum Saturday night in the South Atlantic Conference opener for both teams.
Lenoir-Rhyne (1-1, 1-0 SAC) finished the game with 428 total offensive yards while the LR defense didn’t allow an offensive touchdown on the evening.
Tusculum’s lone score of the night came on Xavier Gunn‘s 34-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Robinson went 13-of-22 through the air with his favorite target being Songa Yates who hauled in four receptions for 113 yards and touchdowns covering 41 and 49 yards.
The key moment of the game came late in the third quarter. The Pioneers drove deep into Bears’ territory and faced fourth-down and two yards to go from the LR 5. Tusculum sent kicker Max Turan out to attempt a field goal. But as the play clock was set to expire, TU called a timeout. After the timeout, TU elected to go for the conversion. Back-up quarterback Richard Hunter rolled out to his left and found running back Lex Dinwiddie open but he could not hold onto the ball as the Pioneers turned the ball over on downs.
After Robinson completed 15-yard pass to Destun Thomas to get out to the LR 20. He would find him again on a short pass, but Thomas would break free from the TU secondary and sprint up the far sideline for an 80-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 21-7.
On TU’s next series, the Pioneers once again got into LR territory as Javon Richardson made an acrobatic catch over two defenders and hauled in a 38-yard reception from Hunter to get to the Lenoir-Rhyne 37. Tusculum would get to the LR 28 but the Pioneers would turnover on downs for a third time in the game as Bears took over at the LR 30.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, LR put the game out of reach as Robinson connected with Yates for his second score of the game with his 49-yard TD toss to take a 28-7 lead and cap the scoring.
Tusculum ran for 229 yards on the evening with Dinwiddie leading the charge for a second straight game with his 85 yards on 10 carries. Otasowie Dion added 38 yards on eight attempts, while starting quarterback Buddy Taylor ran for 35 yards on nine attempts before leaving the game with seven minutes left in the third quarter due to injury. Taylor (1-for-7, 14 yds) and Hunter (1-for-4, 38 yds) combined for two completions in 11 attempts for 52 yards.
Lenoir-Rhyne’s Ben Watson led all players with a game-best 14 tackles including a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery.
Tre Mobley led the Pioneers with his 10 tackles to go along with two pass break-ups. Rashad Watson finished with nine tackles while Jaden Outar added five stops and two break-ups for the Black and Orange.
Lenoir-Rhyne got on the board first when Robinson connected with Yates for a 41-yard score at the 8:53 mark of the first quarter. It capped a six-play, 74-yard scoring drive.
Taylor would fumble on the first play of the ensuing series as Desmond Greene came up with the recovery as the Bears took over at the TU 32.
The Pioneer defense forced a fourth-down and five yards to go but Robinson connected with Dominique Marshall for a 27-yard TD to extend the lead to 14-0 with 7:21 left in the opening frame.
Tusculum put together an 11-play drive and got to the LR 29, but false start penalty and an incomplete pass on third and long forced TU to punt as the Bears took over at the LR 20.
But on the first play, Robinson’s pass was bobbled by his receiver intercepted in mid-air to Gunn Gunn who hurried his way to pay-dirt for 34 yards and his first pick-six of his collegiate career. Turan’s extra point was good as TU trimmed the deficit in half at 14-7 with 47 seconds left in the first quarter.
Tusculum returns to action next Saturday when the Pioneers travel to the Electric City to face the undefeated Anderson Trojans for a 2 p.m. SAC contest.
