JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Running back Rashon Kennedy turned in his third 100-yard rushing game of the season, including a 46-yard scoring gallop in the second quarter, but homestanding Jacksonville racked up 507 yards of total offense in handing the visiting Braves a 55-10 loss Saturday afternoon at D.B. Milne Field.

The setback marked the second for the Braves (1-3) in which they surrendered more than 50 points and 500 yards of offense to their opponent. Jacksonville (1-2) picked up its first win of the season behind a monster day by Rudell Small who carried the ball 19 times for 112 yards while adding a school record-tying five touchdowns.

Kenedy ran for 125 yards on 20 carries and Brandon McLaurin carried the ball 11 times for 36 more yards. Matt Evans completed 6-of-14 passes for 64 yards before exiting in the fourth quarter with a neck injury, while backup quarterback Cory Smith was a perfect 2-for-2 for 53 yards. Wayne Blevins finished the game with two catches for 58 yards, including being on the receiving end of a 40-yard pass by Smith.

Defensively, the Braves got nine tackles, including eight solo stops, from Ricky Wilson. Morris McLaughlin had five tackles, including two for loss, and his first unassisted sack of the campaign. The Braves turned in eight tackles for loss and three sacks on the day as a team.

“We've been doing this now for four weeks and our team has got to learn to recover from mistakes and we've got to learn to handle some adversity. We haven't done that very well,” said UNCP head coach Pete Shinnick. “We put ourselves in situations that, I think, we can take care of. Congratulations to Coach (Kerwin) Bell and his staff. They did a nice job against us today, but we really helped them a lot.

“It's one thing to call a great play and nobody be there. It's another thing to call a play and a guy misses a tackle, a guy doesn't have the edge or we don't hit an open wide receiver or not block a guy. Those are the things we are doing right now. I have high expectations for our team and I realize that this is a learning process, but we just have to get better.”

The Dolphins took control from the opening kick, engineering a 6-play, 63-yard drive that appeared to be stalled on a 3rd-and-13 situation from the UNCP 48-yard line, but JU quarterback Chris Horton hit receiver Nathan Conner in stride down the right hash for the early 7-0 lead.

Following a 7-play, 80-yard drive on the Dolphins' next possession, the Braves would finally light up their half of the scoreboard on a 2-play drive that was capped on Kennedy's long run, but the hosts would get three more scores by Smalls to take a 35-7 lead into the lockerroom.

UNCP looked to find its niche in a 10-play, 32-yard drive to open the second stanza, but the jaunt stalled at the 24-yard line and the Black and Gold was forced to settle for a 41-yard field goal by Andrew Williams. The Dolphins would have all the scoring the rest of the way out, however, using Smalls' fifth rushing score of the game and two Michael Zacco field goals, before capping off the game scoring on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Erik Stepleton to Greg Louissaint with 87 seconds left.

UNCP will be back in action next Saturday when the Braves head to Murfreesboro to take on Chowan (1-4) who was a 45-7 loser at Brevard on Saturday. Kickoff for Saturday's match-up has been set for noon at Garrison Stadium. For ticket information, contact the Chowan athletic department at (252) 398-1239.