CHARLOTTE – Senior Luke Charles threw for a school record 403 yards and three touchdowns on 43-of-57 passing to help lead the No. 13 UNC Pembroke football team to a 45-22 rout of NCAA Division I (FCS) Charlotte on Saturday afternoon at Jerry Richardson Stadium.

Charlotte (4-3) took its only lead of the game, 8-7, on a 2-yard toss from Matt Johnson to Mikel Hunter midway through the first quarter, but the Braves (5-0) scored 31-straight points to take a 38-8 lead on a season-long 46-yard field goal by Connor Haskins with 2:28 left in the third period.

Te'Vell Williams turned in a pair of scores and posted his sixth career 100-yard receiving game with seven catches for 136 yards. Ben DeCelle (80 yards) and B.J. Bunn (56) both matched a school record with 10 receptions, with Bunn also adding a fourth quarter score. Redshirt freshman Rontonio Stanley ran for 24 yards and two touchdowns on six carries as well.

Fred Williams registered a season-best eight tackles (all solo), three tackles for loss (-9 yards) and a key forced fumble to lead the way for Code Black who surrendered just 104 yards on the ground. L.J. Stroman equaled the tackle output of Williams, while also turning in an interception, a blocked kick and a pass break-up. Senior Quentin Pate forced a pair of fumbles, while Darcus Elliott recovered a pair of cough ups.

"It as a complete a game as I have ever been a part of and that's a credit to our senior class and them believing in what we are trying to accomplish here," said UNCP head coach Pete Shinnick. "Our team set the bar high as to how they have to play the rest of the season. By playing this well, now they have to come out and equal this performance next week."

The Braves scored the game's first points when Stanley capped an 8-play, 88-yard scoring drive with a 2-yard dive up the middle, but the 49ers answered on the ensuing possession, driving 80 yards in seven plays before Johnson found Hunter on a 2-yard strike into the end zone. A 2-point conversion run by Lee McNeill would give Charlotte its final points of the first half.

UNCP would score twice more in the opening stanza, first on a 2-yard run by Stanley with 5:02 left in the first period and then on a 23-yard pass from Charles to Williams, to take a 21-8 advantage into the locker rooms. Elliott Powell capped a 10-play, 72-yard scoring drive with a 5-yard run on UNCP's opening possession in the second half, and the visitors padded their lead out to 35-8 on a 56-yard touchdown grab by Williams nearly four minutes later.

Haskins would extend that cushion out to 38-8 with his season-long boot to put the nail in the coffin with just more than two minutes left to play in the third quarter.

Johnson's 4-yard touchdown pass to C.J. Crawford in the waning seconds of the third period would help the hosts cut into their deficit, but Charles struck again five minutes into the fourth quarter when he found Bunn on a scoring strike that gave the Black & Gold its final points of the day.

The Braves will continue a three-game road trip on Saturday when the trek to Salisbury to knock heads with Catawba (3-3) at Shuford Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m.