Below is an article from http://www.godanriver.com/ the home town paper of the Averett Cougars. To read the article on the HSC.edu site click here.
The outcome of Averett’s season opener against Hampden-Sydney was already well determined by the time freshman quarterback Kirkland Brown finally took the reins of the Cougars’ offense....
The true freshman from Lexington, N.C., needed just one big touchdown pass in the third quarter to finally get everything rolling.
Brown, and the Averett defense for that matter, came to life in the fourth quarter, rattling off 23 consecutive points before falling to the defending Old Dominion Athletic Conference champion Tigers, 45-30, on Saturday afternoon at the Cougar Den in Danville...
“I wanted to get a spark in there and get everybody going because we were kind of dead,” Brown said. “I went in and tried to execute what the coaches put in the past two months and we did a good job.”
Averett (0-1), which trailed 45-7 entering the fourth quarter, scored on all three of its fourth-quarter offensive possessions while the defense came up with big stops against Hampden-Sydney’s (1-0) second-string offense. Freshman running back Clayton Navarre scored the Cougars’ final touchdown — a 9-yard rumble with about 3 ½ minutes remaining that capped the 23-point quarter.
James Wilson added a 1-yard run and Brown connected with Owen Hayden for a 15-yard pass to the back corner of the endzone for the quarter's other scores.
“It would have been very easy to roll over and let them keep scoring,” Brown said, “but I think we dug deep and said, ‘We’re not going to let this get out of hand.’ We made it a ball game. … It was huge for us to get back into it and not roll over.”
Jeremy Dixon scored Averett’s first touchdown in the third quarter, hauling in a 30-yard pass from Brown in the front end of the end zone between a couple of Hampden-Sydney defenders that cut the deficit to 31-7.
“I think once Jeremy Dixon made a play … once everybody got a big play and once they saw they could make a big play, I think it helped top to bottom with our confidence of moving the ball,” Averett offensive coordinator J.D. Shaw said.
Brown completed 16-of-21 passes for 211 yards and two touchdowns – 194 of those yards and both touchdowns after halftime. Brown and starter Xavier Siddall combined for 21 passing yards in the first half as the Averett offense was held to an abmismal 67 yards of total offense.
Hampden-Sydney quarterback Travis Lane completed 27-of-37 passes for 348 yards and four touchdowns. Lane and the Tigers took advantage of two Averett turnovers and converted them into touchdown passes. Lane found Mike Goad for a 14-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter to put the Tigers up 24-0 and then Lane connected with John Sparagna for a 3-yard score for Hampden-Sydney’s final score.
“The slow offensive start did hurt us. The two turnovers did hurt us,” Dixon said. “You take away the two turnovers, which led to touchdowns, and it’s a tie ball game.”
"There were one or two scores I think really hurt us and that showed at the end of the game,” Averett coach Mike Dunlevy said. “We had a chance to get back in it. I was happy with our kids. They could have laid down … but they didn’t.”
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