CARROLLTON, Ga. - The University of West Georgia football team was a Homecoming winner on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Shorter Hawks 41-13 at University Stadium in a non-conference contest.
West Georgia (2-5) had nearly 500 yards of offense and held Shorter (2-3) to 210 yards of total offense and allowed just the one touchdown on a beautiful day for football.
UWG's defense was stout on the first possession of the game, and forced a punt from the Hawks' own end zone. Karmello English got UWG set up deep in Shorter territo with a nice punt return and Quincy Casey capped off UWG's first drive with a 16-yard rush.
Neither team would score over the remainder of the first quarter, but UWG added points early in the second. Casey found English over the middle and the receiver did the rest, racking up 55 yards after the catch on the 58-yard touchdown, making it a 14-0 lead.
Late in the half, Shorter got a big play on fourth down to extend the drive and the Hawks capitalized by scoring their first touchdown of the game, making in 14-7 with 2:10 left.
West Georgia would get the ball with 1:08 left and Casey would connect with Bryce Dickerson for a 40-yard gain and get the Wolves inside the 10-yard line. Casey would then call his own number and add his second rushing touchdown of the game from eight yards out and send the game into halftime with UWG up 21-7.
The Wolves outscored the Hawks 20-6 in the second half with the Hawks scoring first and making it a 21-10 UWG lead with a 34-yard field goal at the 2:44 mark of the third quarter. UWG then got a 33-yard touchdown rush from Chase Belcher, a one-yard rush by Rajaez Mosley, and a 15-yard rush by Davin Wydner to make it 41-10 midway through the final quarter.
Shorter's final points came on a 33-yard field goal with 3:01 left in the game.
West Georgia got 304 yards passing from Casey as the senior completed 19 passes while adding 57 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns on the ground. English led UWG's receivers with 78 yards and one touchdown while T.J. Lockley had a game-high seven catches for 64 yards.
Defensively, UWG had six sacks with two each from Malik Charles and Preston Puni while Micah Thurman and Mar'Quavious Moss each had one. Thurman led the way with eight tackles.
West Georgia remains home next Saturday, returning to United Athletic Conference play for a 2 p.m. kickoff against Southern Utah.
Notable Numbers
- After Casey found the end zone twice and Wydner scored once with his legs, West Georgia quarterbacks are now responsible for eight of UWG's 13 rushing touchdowns on the season.
- UWG's six sacks were the most in a single-game since recording seven against Chowan last season.
- Reilly Mason punted just three times and posted a season-high average of 45.0 including a long of 61 yards.
- It was West Georgia's 28th win all-time on Homecoming and the Wolves improved to 11-1 all-time against Shorter, winning 11 consecutive games over the Hawks.
