Game Leaders
Team Stats
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Turnovers
Time of Poss.
BRIDGEWATER, Va. – Redshirt-senior quarterback Jay Scroggins passed for 260 yards and three touchdowns in three quarters to lead Bridgewater College past visiting Guilford College, 41-7, in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) football contest Saturday.
The Eagles, ranked 21st in this week's D3football.com Top 25 Poll and 22nd in the American Football Coaches Association Division III Poll, concluded a perfect 10-0 regular season and await an opponent in next week's first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. Guilford ends the year with a 2-8 overall record, 1-7 in the ODAC.
Bridgewater forced four Guilford turnovers, including three interceptions. Chase Rosenthal corralled a deflected Teddy Gassert pass late in the first quarter at the Quakers' 23-yard line, which set up Scroggins' 5-yard touchdown pass to Conner Kleffman. Brett Tharp returned the Eagles' third interception 80 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, which opened a 34-0 lead.
Guilford's Jermaine Russell accounted for the Quakers' lone score with a school record-tying 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown with 7:02 left in the game. The play marked the junior's second kickoff return for a touchdown this season and the fourth 100-yard return in school history.
Scroggins completed 22-of-29 passes without an interception. Trey Stephens had a team-high five grabs for 43 yards. His 24-yard punt return set up Scroggins' 19-yard touchdown pass to Devonte Smith (4 rec., 59 yards) that opened the scoring in the middle of the first quarter. Scroggins threw a 45-yard touchdown to rookie Viante Tucker late in the third quarter to conclude the senior's day. Bridgewater's four quarterbacks combined to complete 28-of-35 passes for 349 yards and four touchdowns. Albert Mensah paced the ground game with 89 rushing yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.
Led by Gary Ramey Jr.'s eight tackles, Bridgewater's defense held Guilford to 245 total offensive yards. The Quakers were 4-of-16 on third-down conversions and yielded two sacks. Matt Dang had both a sack and an interception.
Guilford's Gassert completed 13-of-28 passes for 147 yards. Senior tight end Evan Carnes made a game-best six receptions for 92 yards. Teammate Shanaan McKoy carried 14 times for 48 yards. Rookie linebacker Josh Hayward had a game- and career-high 13 tackles. Teammate Bryce Smith added 11 stops and ODAC tackles leader Khayree Lundy had nine takedowns. Senior Jarrod Russ contributed two sacks to finish with a career-best eight this season, which ranks eighth in school history. He concludes his career ranked second among Guilford's leaders with 21.5 sacks.