PEMBROKE –
Patrick O'Brien threw for 390 yards and four touchdowns, including a game-sealing 57-yard strike to all-American
B.J. Bunn with 2-1/2 minutes left, as the 20th-ranked UNC Pembroke football team topped Catawba, 41-31, in a shootout at Grace P. Johnson Stadium on Saturday.
The setback marked the ninth-straight home win for the Braves (7-1) who improved to 9-1 in Homecoming contests since 2007. It was the third loss in the last four outings for the Indians (3-5) who have now split six series meetings with the Black & Gold.
O'Brien completed passes to eight different receivers on the day to register his fifth career 300-yard passing day. Bunn caught just four passes in the outing, but still managed 104 receiving yards and a pair of scores – the fifth time in his career that he has grabbed two or more touchdown receptions.
Rontonio Stanley led the ground game with 86 yards on 22 carries, including a 5-yard touchdown jaunt in the second period.
Catawba put up more than 520 yards of total offense in the loss, but managed 275 of those yards on four scoring plays – a 75-yard pass, a 75-yard run, a 59-yard run and a 66-yard pass. David Burgess ran for 133 yards and a score on 14 carries, while Samuel Mobley caught six passes for 124 yards and a first quarter touchdown, to pass the Indians offense.
O'Brien's 55-yard touchdown pass to
Tra Chandler with 11:14 left in the fourth quarter gave the Braves a seemingly comfortable 11 point lead, but the visitors answered on the next play from scrimmage when Burgess took the handoff and raced 75 yards to the end zone nearly untouched. A 2-point conversion pass would trim to Catawba's deficit to just three points, 31-28.
Bunn's long scoring reception midway through the fourth quarter pushed the hosts' lead back to two scores, but Catawba put together a 9-play, 54-yard drive on the next possession that cut it to 38-31. A career-long 53-yard field goal by
Matt Davis with 10 seconds left would eventually ice the outcome.
UNCP will hit the road again on October 29 when it treks to Institute, W.Va., to take on the West Virginia State Yellowjackets (1-7). Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. at Dickerson Stadium.
