PEMBROKE – Wingate amassed more than 540 yards of total offense and scored 30 points off of five UNCP turnovers as the 24th ranked Bulldogs remained undefeated with a 57-14 triumph over the homestanding Braves Saturday afternoon at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Field.

Running backs Keith Gore and Brandon McLaurin each scored their first rushing touchdowns of the season for the Black and Gold (1-2), with quarterback Matt Evans throwing for 127 yards on 10-of-18 passing. Backup quarterback Cory Smith completed 5-of-9 passes for 69 yards in leading a fourth quarter scoring drive as well.

Quarterback J.D. Moore completed 21 of 30 passes for 291 yards and four touchdowns for Wingate (4-0) who also racked up 231 yards on the ground. Running back Patrick Pinchinat rushed seven times for 40 yards and a trio of touchdowns for the Bulldogs as well.

“Wingate is a very good football team, but we turned the ball over five times and were finally making a push in the second quarter when we gave up a big score on a bad snap,” said UNCP head coach Pete Shinnick. “I thought they did a very nice job game-planning us. We made some big mistakes. I would love to see what the game would have been like without those mistakes, but that's part of this game.”

The Bulldogs piled up 239 yards of offense in the opening stanza and scored twice in the final 3:48 of the second quarter in taking a 42-7 lead into the intermission, then capitalized on a costly fumble in the opening moments of the third quarter to stretch the lead out to 48-7.

Having put together six scoring drives of less than three minutes, the visitors completed their half of the scoring on a 34-yard field goal by Michael Crutchfield in the fourth quarter before the Braves engineered a 12-play, 81-yard drive late in the game that was capped on a 3-yard plunge by McLaurin.

UNCP will return to action on Saturday when the Braves begin a two-game stretch away from home by visiting Jacksonville (0-2). Start time for that contest has been slated for a noon kickoff at D.B. Milne Field. For ticket information, please contact the JU ticket office at (904) 256-7407.