PEMBROKE – UNCP racked up more than 500 yards of total offense behind a 360-yard passing day by quarterback Ryan Horton as the Black and Gold closed out the home half of its 2007 football schedule with a 43-22 win over Faulkner Saturday afternoon at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Field.

Horton completed 15 of 30 pass attempts for 360 yards and three touchdowns for UNCP (4-5) who inched back closer to the .500 mark after two-straight 3-point losses to West Virginia Wesleyan and Edward Waters, respectively. Tim McCaskill hauled in seven passes for 147 yards, with Josh Throckmorton tallying a career day with 115 receiving yards (3 receptions) and a pair of scores.

Rashon Kennedy rushed for 143 yards on 24 carries to help the Braves break a string of lackluster rushing performances the last two weeks. It was the fifth-straight loss for Faulkner (1-7) who was limited to 15 yards rushing on 25 carries. Quarterback Chad Kilgore passed for more than 311 yards as well, but threw a pair of key interceptions and was sacked five times.

Safety Brandon Arrington led the Braves in tackles for the second-straight game, this time recording eight solo stops and a pair of assisted tackles for a stingy defense. James Alexander tallied a pair of sacks on the day, with James Littlejohn, Ben Kurti and Dewayne James each tallying one as well. Adam Deese turned in four tackles, including one for loss, one interception and three quarterback hurries on the day.

UNCP stuffed Faulkner on a 4th-and-4 attempt at the 36-yard line on the opening drive of the ballgame to set the tone early, then grabbed a lead it would not relinquish 43 seconds later when Kennedy scampered 22 yards for a touchdown. The scoring play was set up on Horton's 43-yard pass to McCaskill moments earlier.

James Huff would push a 36-yard field goal wide left on Faulkner's next possession and UNCP would follow with a methodical 8-play, 80-yard drive that was capped on Horton's 1-yard plunge with 3:22 left in the opening quarter. Horton's 60-yard touchdown strike to Throckmorton with 2:53 left to play in the half would give the Braves a 20-0 lead at the break.

The Braves used a 53-yard pass and catch from Horton to Throckmorton to take a 30-0 lead with 3:53 left in the third quarter before Faulkner mounted a late comeback, scoring 15-straight points in the game's next seven minutes. Justin Funderburk's 70-yard receiving touchdown less than two minutes later, though, would put the nail in the coffin for the hosts.

Justin Gomez recovered a Kennedy fumble with five minutes remaining in the game and sprinted 47 yards for a touchdown, but Kennedy would atone for the miscue two minutes later on an 18-yard scoring jaunt that capped the day's points.

“To come back from two-straight 3-point losses and having an opportunity to win a game and not getting it, I was very happy for our guys to be able to do something like this today,” said UNCP head coach Pete Shinnick. “Give Faulkner a lot of credit for continuing to fight and scratch late in the game.

“We knew it was going to be a famine and feast type of game. Ryan (Horton) did a good job of not getting frustrated with the incomplete passes and the pressure he was getting.”

UNCP will be back in action again next Saturday when the Braves head to Athens, W.V., to battle Concord (0-9) at CU's 3000-seat Callaghan Stadium. The Braves will close out their inaugural season of intercollegiate football on November 10 at North Greenville.