CNU fades after quick start, falls to Ferrum on day when football field is named for Matt Kelchner
Christopher Newport University chose a fitting event to name its football field at TowneBank Stadium after former head coach Matt Kelchner.
Kelchner, the Captains’ coach for their first 16 seasons beginning in 2001, won 13 of 14 meetings with Saturday’s opponent, Ferrum.
Alas, the Kelchner magic did not transfer in the first meeting between the schools in seven years. The Panthers withstood the Captains’ fast start to win 26-19 in their non-conference game behind the arm and legs of quarterback Titus Jones.
Jones, a 6-foot, 180-pound senior, passed for 182 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 72 yards and a TD. He was particularly lethal on third down, rushing for 33-yard score that gave the Panthers (2-0) the lead for good in the third quarter, before a back-breaking 70-yard completion on a shuttle pass in the fourth quarter that set up another touchdown.
“He kind of took it over when it came time to rush him,” CNU coach Art Link said. “When he ran the zone-read for the touchdown, it really changed the way you had to attack him.
“He was elusive and I was impressed by what he did.”
The Captains (1-2) faded offensively, by contrast, after getting into the red zone on their first four possessions but scoring only 10 points.
In control of the trenches on both sides of the ball, it appeared early the Captains would dominate. They drove 74 yards to the Panthers’ 1 on their first possession, only to come up empty when quarterback Matt Dzierski was stopped short of the goal line by inches on fourth down.
The CNU defense forced a punt from the Ferrum end zone after a three-and-out. The Captains covered the 40 yards quickly, taking a 7-0 lead on Adam Luncher’s 4-yard touchdown run with 3:04 to play in the first quarter.
Their red-zone struggles resumed, however, as Ryan Castle was wide left on a 34-yard field-goal attempt. The CNU defense’s early dominance that included limiting the Panthers to 21 yards in the first quarter went for naught, and the Panthers tied the game at 7 on Jones’ 38-yard touchdown pass to Tmahdae Penn with 9:03 left in the first half.
The teams traded short field goals in the second quarter, and the score was tied at 10 at intermission.
“When you look at all of those drives, what happened with the fourth-down stop, the missed field goal and the made field goal — what’s it look like if (we have) 21 points?” Link lamented.
Jones preceded his 33-yard touchdown run with a 19-yard run on third-and-11, before the Captains retaliated with Castle’s 24-yard field goal that cut the deficit to 17-13 late in the third quarter. Jones’ shuttle pass to Matt Montgomery set up his 5-yard touchdown pass to Penn that broke the game open at 23-13 with 10:43 remaining.
“Third down has been our Achilles heel,” Link said.
