The Catawba notebook ...

Catawba College football coach David Bennett looked at all the big plays from Saturday’s 24-19 South Atlantic Conference victory at Tusculum and is convinced that a punt was the biggest of the game.

Early in the third quarter, Catawba was holding a 10-5 lead when Danny Jenkins, an A.L. Brown product, had his punt blocked. The ball bounded into the end zone.

There were more Tusculum jerseys than Catawba but Jenkins recovered the ball for a safety. Instead of seven points, Tusculum was awarded two.

Bennett had an explanation for what happened.

“Our personal protector called a number too close to our fake number,” he said. “Now, if you stay in tune, and it’s fourth-and-13 and you’re backed up, I doubt you’re going to fake a punt. But our guys ran a fake, turned a guy loose and he came in untouched.”

Shawn McBride got a big assist on the play.

“McBride went for the ball and when he did, he knocked down two Tusculum players,” Bennett said. “He knocked it right to Danny.”

Bennett didn’t need to be a math major to figure it all out.

“We gave them two instead of seven. We won by five so hey, those were five very important points.”

BYTHE NUMBERS:With the win and Carson-Newman’s loss to Presbyterian, Catawba is now the Division IIheavyweight in the South Region. The top four teams at the end of the regular season go to the national playoffs.

Catawba is 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the SAC. It is No. 1 in the South Region. It moved up to fourth in the national poll.

Catawba hadn’t won its first six games since 1976 and is only the third team to accomplish that, the other in 1937. The Indians have a chance to be the first team to go 7-0.

HICKSVILLE: Tusculum kicker Paul Czerniak can usually kick the ball to kingdom come but he made a big mistake at the end of the game Saturday: He kicked the ball to Hicksville.

And the sure hands of Marcus Hicks, a former Oxford Webb star, scooped up the onsides kick with four minutes left, helping to preserve the win.

Hicks was named the Special Teams of the Week for Catawba.

THEFAWGUY: Say what? A lineman was named Offensive Player of the Week?

Yes. Center Scott Faw was named by the coaching staff after grading out 80 percent.

“That’s the first time we’ve had somebody do that in three years,” said Bennett.

DEFENSE: There was no surprise that cornerback Ryan Norman won the defensive award. He had two interceptions against Tusculum, one for a touchdown, broke up three passes and caused a fumble.

Norman’s first interception stopped Caleb Slover’s streak of 73 straight passes without a pick.

INJURIES: The only rehab of note has Anthony Spencer nursing a shoulder injury.

RUN, KEVIN, RUN: Kevin McKenzie had a career-high 28 carries Saturday for 99 yards. He is averaging 101 per game and is on pace to break the single-season school record of 1,001 yards.

“Kevin was probably excited to get the ball that much,” said Bennett, “but he probably wasn’t excited to come up one yard short of 100. If he had juked and jived one last time, that would’ve been one yard.”

But Bennett credited a good-tackling Tusculum club.

“Joe Hilliard and McKenzie usually get five to 10 broken tackles a game,” Bennett said. “They only had two and three this time.”

RICKYLOSTHISNUMBER: Highly-touted freshman tailback Rickey Haywood of High Point Central has been suspended, according to Bennett.

OFF WEEK: Catawba is idle this week and will have two weeks to get ready for North Greenville.

TRIBETIDBITS: Nick Means caught a career-high seven passes Saturday and has 26 on the season. ... Tusculum turned an early Catawba fumble into three points, the first Catawba’s defense has given up in the first half. ... Darris Morris had six tackles against Tusculum, including one for minus-23. ... Catawba is winning by an average of 35-7. ... Catawba’s defense is allowing just 55 yards rushing per game. Tusculum got only a net three. ... Catawba has 27 sacks. ... The Indians lead the SAC in third down efficiency (49-of-89). They were 10-of-19 against Tusculum (5-2, 2-1). ... Matt Gross kicked his fifth field goal (43 yards) in six tries.

AROUNDTHESAC: Tusculum defensive back Alan Slaughter had 12 tackles against Catawba. He now has 37 in the past two games. ... Lenoir-Rhyne (1-3, 3-4) snapped a four-game losing streak and a 14-game road losing streak with a 36-32 win over Wingate. The Bears and Wingate combined for 1,096 yards. Lenoir-Rhyne’ 579 yards were the most since the 629 it got against Catawba in 1994. ... L-R’s Jamiel Surratt had his fifth 100-yard game and already has 927 in seven games. ... Mars Hill (1-1, 3-2) exploded for 23 fourth quarter points to beat Virginia-Wise 35-12. ... Mars Hill has a six-game home winning streak. ... Newberry (0-2, 3-3) saw several school records fall in its 44-21 win over Benedict. Vic Gilmore’s 137 yards give him 3,483 while his two scores give him 35 for his career. Josh Pierce broke a 36-year old mark when he ran a kickoff back 98 yards. He was named SACSpecial Teams player of the Week. ... Newberry already has nine interceptions. It had just 10 in 1999. ... Wingate’s Jeron Cain broke a school record against Lenoir-Rhyne with 478 yards passing. It is a SAC high this season. Most of his passes went to Lucas Greene, who had a school record 260 yards receiving. Wingate is 0-3, 1-5.

NEXTWEEK:Tusculum travels to Carson-Newman (1 p.m.), Wingate goes to Newberry (2) and Presbyterian at Mars Hill (2:30).

Ronnie Gallagher covers Catawba for the Post.