PEMBROKE – Seth Owen threw for 241 yards on 20-of-29 passing, including a 77-yard scoring strike to George Whigham in the third quarter that put the UNC Pembroke football team up for good, as the Braves posted a 16-14 victory over Fayetteville State in the sixth annual Two Rivers Classic presented by Candy Sue's on Sunday afternoon at Grace P. Johnson Stadium.

The win gave the Braves (1-1) a win in their home opener for the eighth-straight year, while also keeping the club perfect in the 6-game-old series with the Broncos (0-2). Four of the six games in the series have been decided by 10 points or less.

The game was delayed 18 hours due to heavy rain and lightning in the Pembroke area on Saturday.

Whigham finished the game with a career-best 87 receiving yards on three catches, while sophomore B.J. Bunn registered a game-best seven catches for 58 yards. Demetrius Fairley rushed for 37 yards on 11 carries, while Rontonio Stanley finished the outing with 47 yards of total offense, including 33 receiving yards.

Code Black sacked Fayetteville State's quarterbacks five times, and Mike Lawrence snared two of UNCP's three interceptions on the day. Blake Hickman tallied a team-best nine tackles for the hosts, while Mike Keck grabbed two of UNCP's five sacks in the contest.

"It is a really good win for the program," said UNCP first-year head coach Shane Richardson. "It was a tough week for us. We certainly had our work cut out for us after the loss that we took last week up (at Winston-Salem State), but we had a great bounce-back mentality this week in practice. Essentially, it's your attitude in how you respond to things. I think our kids did a fantastic job of taking that to heart."

Fayetteville State drove 68 yards on 10 plays on the game's opening possession to key an early 7-0 lead, but UNCP used a pair of field goals (22, 48 yards) to climb to within a single point heading into the halftime break. The Braves would take the lead for good just less than three minutes into the second half when Owen found Whigham on a short pass across the middle and the senior out-ran most of the FSU defense on his way to a 77-yard scoring jaunt.

UNCP pushed its advantage out to 16-7 on Haskins's third field goal of the game – this time a 26-yarder – in the waning minutes of the third quarter, but the Broncos climbed back into the game midway through the fourth when Kwamere Bailey returned a blocked field goal attempt 95 yards for a touchdown.

The Braves will be back in action again on Saturday when they make a short trip north to battle Shaw (0-2) in a 6:30 p.m. contest at Durham County Stadium.