Buies Creek, North Carolina- Host Campbell University limited UVa-Wise to 175 total offense yards en route to a 10-0 victory at Barker-Lane Stadium on Saturday. In the victory, the Fighting Camels forced two Cavalier turnovers while also limiting the visitors to 45 rushing yards on 32 attempts.
In the first half, the two schools each failed on multiple field goal attempts. Campbell's Sam Eberwein missed a 45 yard attempt on the game's opening drive only to have a 41 yard attempt blocked later in the opening quarter. Meanwhile, Paul Melshen missed a 47 yard attempt wide left early in the second quarter before having a 50 yard attempt blocked on the final play of the first half. The failed field goal attempts left the game scoreless after two quarters of play.
In the third quarter, each school failed to score on its opening possession and the Camels forced a three and out on the Cavs second possession of the second half. On its second drive of the quarter, the Camels struck for the biggest play of the game as Braden Smith hooked up with Chad McMichael for a 46 yard reception down to the Cavs four yard line. Following two unsuccessful runs from the four, Campbell went to the air on third down and came up empty. Head Coach David Steele elected to send out Eberwein for a third field goal attempt; this time, the kick was good from 21 yards out giving the NCAA FCS school a 3-0 advantage.
The score would remain 3-0 until mid-way through the fourth quarter when Braden Smith found Alex Green in the back of the end zone with 8:57 to play; Eberwein was good on the point after to extend the lead to two scores at 10-0. The touchdown pass capped off a 14 play 55 yard drive that took over seven minutes off the clock. On the drive, the Camels benefited from a personal foul penalty on the Cavaliers and a pass interference call on a fourth down in the end zone.
Trailing by two scores, the Cavalier offense was unable to move the football as the Camel defense did not allow a completed pass in the second half. On the ground, the challenge was nearly as difficult as UVa-Wise rushed for just 49 second half yards.
With the loss, UVa-Wise drops to 1-2 on the season while Campbell improves its record to 1-1. The Cavs will open the Mid-South East portion of the schedule next week when the team travels to the University of Pikeville for a 7:05 PM kickoff.
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