By Bret Strelow
bstrelow@salisburypost.com
Catawba is seeking its first SAC win as it prepares for a second consecutive trip to Tennessee.
The Indians (3-3, 0-3) put forth their best performance in a conference game Saturday but fell 41-31 at Carson-Newman in Jefferson City, Tenn. They’ll travel to Greeneville, Tenn., this weekend to face Tusculum (1-5, 0-3).
Catawba erased three deficits against Carson-Newman, which went ahead for good with 3:51 remaining.
“The coaches were a lot more emotional, trying to get us fired up, riled up, trying to make us a unified team,” Catawba senior Jaspen Gray said. “This whole past week was about us becoming unified.
“The team came out and played emotional, came out and played physical. The coaches were trying to make sure we played with our hearts, and I think we played with our hearts.”
The Indians had to deal with additional adversity when a late hit knocked starting quarterback Cam Sexton out of the game six minutes into the second quarter.
The penalty moved the ball to Carson-Newman’s 34-yard line, and Patrick Dennis capped that possession with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Eric Morman.
Dennis, who threw a pair of TD passes to Brandon Bunn in the second half, finished 26 of 37 for 311 yards. His execution of the team’s two-minute offense allowed Catawba to wipe out a fourth-quarter deficit of 10 points.
“I prepare as a starter every week whether I’m starting or not,” Dennis said. “I don’t want it to be where we come in and have to change our gameplan. We got in the headset and said we’re not coming in just to run the ball.
“We’re coming in to stay within our offense, throw the ball, just try not to miss a beat.”
Sexton, a North Carolina transfer who left a game prematurely for the second time this season, said he was proud of how Dennis played.
Sexton threw for 346 yards in his Catawba debut, but a late hit on the third play from scrimmage against Fayetteville State knocked him out with an ankle injury.
Dennis led the Indians to a 21-20 victory and had two touchdown passes in a 51-0 rout of Livingstone a week later.
Catawba was off the next weekend, and Sexton returned for the start of league play. He went 19-of-56 passing for 296 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in losses to Mars Hill and Newberry.
Sexton completed 11 passes in 16 attempts for 77 yards before exiting the lineup Saturday.
“It’s been a difficult year to say the least,” Sexton said. “I’m just frustrated with a lot of things. It’s been tough so far.”