BRIDGEWATER, Va. -- The Bridgewater College football team returned home for a nonconference match up with North Carolina Wesleyan at the Jopson Athletic Complex on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles walked away with a 41-12 victory.

BC moves to 2-1 on the season as it enters a bye week before returning to action on Sept. 30 at Hampden-Sydney to start ODAC play. Meanwhile, the Battling Bishops fall to 0-3 to start their 2023 slate of games.

Bridgewater won the toss and elected to receive and started off hot as Kennedy Fauntleroy, the reigning ODAC Offensive Player of the Week, took the first play of the game for 12 yards and a first down. A 15-yard facemask penalty gave BC a new set of downs and eventually, the Eagles moved into field goal range. A missed 32-yarder kept the game level at 0-0 after the game's opening five minutes.

The two teams traded interceptions as Bryson Landrum picked off a pass from Jaicere Bateman and Aaron Moore snagged an errant pass from NCWU starter Chaz Hirschman. The first 15 minutes came to a close with the game still scoreless. 

After forcing a turnover on downs, the Eagles offense went to work as they moved 52 yards across eight plays, including a pair of lengthy runs by Fauntleroy, to get deep in N.C. Wesleyan territory. Bradey Loder fell in from a yard out to get the Eagles on the board and a good PAT made it 7-0 with 11:27 showing on the clock.

A quick three-and-out from the Battling Bishops gave Bridgewater possession on its own 20 after a punt. The Eagles looked like they were about to also go three-and-out as the team lined up for a punt on 4th & 1 on their own 29 yard line. A fake punt was called and the snap went to Preston Turner who rumbled 71 yards for a score as he sprinted past the entire Battling Bishop punt return unit. The 300-pound defensive lineman is familiar with scoring touchdowns as he stands as the VHSL single-game leader after scoring nine rushing touchdowns in a game in 2017.

The Battling Bishops responded quickly to the massive explosion play as they nearly returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown as Kiami McKnight sprinted 88 yards and was shoved out of bounds by Shawn Harris who was the last Eagle back in coverage. The visitors got on the board on the drive with a two-yard pass from Hirschman to Keilan Francies to make it 14-6. A bad snap on the PAT attempt led to a failed attempt to keep the score the same.

With a little trickery of their own, the Battling Bishops popped up the kickoff and recovered the onside kick in Bridgewater territory as momentum shifted in their favor. The Eagles defense stood strong and forced a turnover-on-downs.

The Eagles got on the board one more time in the half as Malcolm Anderson entered the game late in the second quarter and found Ian Browne for a 12-yard score on his first pass of the game as Bridgewater led 21-6 at halftime. 

In the second half, the visitors got on the board on their first drive of the third quarter as new quarterback Leopoldo Cardelli found Christian Drumgoole open for a 45-yard touchdown to make it 21-12.

Ironically, the next score of the game came from the hands of Cedric Drumgoole who was celebrating his birthday on Saturday. He followed his brother, Christian, by grabbing a 15-yard touchdown pass from Anderson in the fourth quarter to make it 27-12 in favor of Bridgewater. 

The first play of the ensuing drive went right back in the home side's favor as Noah Hines intercepted a pass from Cardelli in NC Wesleyan territory. The very next play from scrimmage was a 40-yard dart from Anderson to Tyler Gilliam to make it a 34-12 contest. 

The Eagles got on the board one more time with another explosion play, this time from Brendan Robinson. Usually, Robinson's explosiveness is seen as part of the kick return unit, but after the Battling Bishops downed a punt on Bridgewater's own six yard line, Robinson bounced a run outside and went 94 yards to the house for a touchdown. The PAT was true and set the final score at 41-12. 

Bateman started the game under center and went 8-for-13 for 47 yards before exiting the contest near the end of the second quarter. Anderson came in and tossed 11 completions out of 18 attempts for 105 yards and three touchdowns. 

On the ground, Fauntleroy led the way with 140 yards on 25 carries, while Robinson pitched in 101 yards on just three carries. Turner saw 71 rushing yards after his big fake punt run, while Loder carried the ball three times for a touchdown. 

Gilliam was one of eight pass catchers on the day as he had five grabs for 57 yards and a score. Browne was right behind him with five catches for 36 yards and a TD, while Viante Tucker snagged three balls to move his career receptions total to 94 over his time in Crimson & Gold. Drumgoole had one catch for a 15-yard score, while Jamel Johnson and Derrick Jenkins had a grab each. Kyle Beck also pitched in three catches. 

On the defensive side of the ball, Aaron Nice led the team for a third-straight week with nine tackles (eight solo) with 4.0 TFL and 1.0 sacks. Jalen Cunningham tallied six stops, while Hines had four PBUs, a pick and five tackles. Turner added to his TD run with a solid statline of five tackles, including 3.0 TFL for 17 yards and 2.5 sacks. Shawn Harris and Demarco Fleming each had four tackles, while Moore had three tackles and an interception.

As a team, the Eagles picked up 23 first downs compared to 14 from the visitors. Bridgewater showcased a great rushing attack picking up 344 yards on the ground compared to holding the Battling Bishops to a single yard rushing for the game. The Eagles put up nearly 500 yards of offense and held NCWU to 239 on the day. 

Bridgewater is back in action in two weeks at Hampden-Sydney on Sept. 30. The game will kick off at 1 pm.