Staff report

WINGATE — LJ Turner broke Catawba’s single-season rushing record, but the Indians couldn’t break a frustrating string of losses on their visit to Wingate.

Catawba was a 27-point underdog at Irwin Belk Stadium on an 80-degree Saturday, but there was plenty of doubt about the outcome until Wingate’s Xavier Pugh broke his second long scoring run of the day with 55 seconds left on the clock. When the Bulldogs kicked the extra point, they had a two-score lead at 24-15 to seal Catawba’s fate. That was the final score.

With the exception of the opener at Davidson, Catawba hasn’t been overmatched by anyone all season, but the Indians are now 2-6 and 1-5 in the South Atlantic Conference. It’s been one or two plays that have separated victory from defeat against UVA Wise, Carson-Newman, Limestone and Newberry, and that was the case once again in a hot game with a major rival.

Wingate survived 112 yards in penalties.

Wingate (6-1, 4-1) came into the game with a defense ranked second in Division II at stopping the run, but Catawba moved the rock on the ground with authority. The Indians ran it 37 times for 179 yards, with 156 of those yards credited to Turner, who toted 25 times.

But Wingate got the stop it had to have to win. With Catawba down 17-15 and driving in Wingate territory late in the game, Wingate held Catawba to a single yard on third-and-2, then stuffed the Indians on fourth-and-1. Diego Aviles was in on both vital stops for the Bulldogs, and he had help.

One impressive Wingate defensive stat did hold up against Catawba. Wingate came into the game ranked second nationally as far as denying first downs, and the Indians were a woeful 2-for-14 on third-down conversions.

Pugh’s clinching TD run came not long after that stop by the Wingate defense.

Catawba took a 3-0 lead early when a blocked punt led to a 40-yard field goal by former Salisbury standout Wade Robins.

Pugh broke a 75-yard burst for a 7-3 Wingate lead on the Bulldogs’ first snap following the field goal.

Turner answered with a 23-yard TD run to finish a 75-yard march against Wingate’s defense. Catawba led 9-7, but it stayed 9-7 when the PAT attempt was blocked.

The second quarter was largely a battle of field-goal attempts. Wingate won that skirmish. The Bulldogs made one to lead 10-9 at halftime, while Catawba missed two, including one in the red zone.

Brooks Bentley threw a TD pass to Matt Flanders to inflate Wingate’s lead to 17-9 early in the third quarter.

Catawba got back to 17-15 on a Hunter Sheppard TD pass to Deuce Linder, but the Bulldogs stopped Mike Geter’s pass attempt for a 2-point conversion.

Wingate was able to cling to that 2-point lead until the stretch run.

Turner has 1,224 rushing yards this season, with 13 rushing TDs. He broke the single-season yardage mark established by Jamelle Cuthbertson in 2008.

Sheppard threw for 148 yards, with tight end Kobe Christian getting six catches for 69 yards. Former North Rowan star Amari McArthur had two catches for 20 yards. Geter (Salisbury) had three catches for 12 yards and had 79 yards on three kickoff returns.

Evans Simons and Nigel Gay forced fumbles for Catawba. Simons, CJ Dixon and Evan Pauling had sacks.

Pugh had 140 of Wingate’s 287 rushing yards. Bentley threw for 172.

Next for Catawba is a road game at Barton.