Staff report

HICKORY — Lenoir-Rhyne maintained its recent dominance in its rivalry with Catawba, beating the Indians 28-7 at Moretz Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The 16th-ranked Bears built a 21-0 cushion in the first half in front of 7,000 fans and were content to trade punches with the Indians in the second half.

The Bears (9-1, 7-1) had over 400 yards of balanced offense and accomplished their primary mission of clinching the Piedmont Division championship. They’ll play at Tusculum next week in the South Atlantic Conference championship game, while Catawba (4-6, 2-6) is wrapping up the season at Carson-Newman.

Sean White threw touchdown passes to DeAree Rogers and Deondre Lester as the Bears took a 14-0 lead.

The backbreaker for the Indians was White’s scoring run from the 1-yard line with five seconds left in the first half that put the Bears ahead by three touchdowns.

Catawba drove 70 yards on its first possession of the second half. Bo Pyror scored on a 3-yard run to finish the drive. The Indians were the first visiting team to score a touchdown at Moretz Stadium in a number of weeks.

Catawba QB Preston Brown accumulated 188 passing yards, but the Indians allowed seven sacks and couldn’t put together scoring drives. The most telling stat was Catawba’s dismal 4-for-17 showing on third-down conversions.

The Bears stopped Catawba’s running game — 37 attempts, 44 yards. Malcoln Wilson (North Rowan) had most of the positive running plays, He had 10 carries for 39 yards.

Jakarri Martin had 10 tackles for the Indians, while Evan Simons forced two fumbles. Christian Bennett (East Rowan) made six tackles.

This was the 102nd meeting of the old rivals. It’s now dead-even at 49 wins each with four ties.

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Tusculum beat Mars Hill in overtime to take the Mountain Division championship.

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