Barbourville, KY – Cumberlands battled through a long night at Union College but came out victorious to bring the Brass Lantern back home to Williamsburg and remain perfect on the year. The game was delayed late into the second quarter for over two hours, but the Patriots didn't let that phase them as they came out and didn't allow a single point the remainder of the game.
 
The Pats defense came up huge tonight with three interceptions, and the only touchdown of the night. Damon Byrnes-Mitchell and Malik Thornton picked the first two while Nate Hancock intercepted the third and ran it back 50-yards to the house. Offensively Darius James ran for 111 yards, his first time passing the 100-yard mark in a game this season. Jay Roberts would throw for 149 yards on 12-22 passing. DK Edwards led all receivers with 39 yards on three receptions.
 
The Patriots started the game with good field position behind a 22-yard kickoff return from Nate Hancock. Roberts completed a pair of first-down passes to Elijah Howard and James to move the ball to the opposing 29. Later in the drive UC would go for it on fourth down but come up short as the ball was picked off in the endzone. The Bulldogs ran the INT back 50 yards and scored five plays later to take the early lead. Neither team found any rhythm the rest of the quarter as they punted two times apiece.
 
UC turned to their run game to start the second quarter of play. James broke out for a 27-yard run to move the chains, but the offense would later get stopped on 4^th and 2 for a turnover on downs.  Cumberlands' defense responded with a fourth down stop of their own as Byrnes-Mitchell intercepted the Bulldog pass. With 5:12 left to play in the half the game was delayed over two hours due to lightning. Out of the delay, Job Matossian would knock down a field goal to cut the deficit to 7-3 heading into the half.
 
Neither team found success offensively in the third quarter, however UC's defense made up for it. Thornton earned the Patriots second interception of the day on a deep ball in the middle of the field. UC's offense couldn't take advantage of the turnover, however, the Pats defense stepped up the following possession. UC would get their only touchdown of the day off a Hancock pick-six. The senior intercepted the pass at midfield and ran up the sidelines for a 52-yard touchdown.
 
In the fourth quarter, the offense went back to James in the rush game to run time off the clock. He eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark late in the fourth, picking up valuable first-downs to keep the Union offense off the field. The special teams unit made a pair of clutch plays to keep UC's lead. Cumberlands blocked a field goal to keep it a seven-point game, then with just over two minutes to play the Pats were forced to punt. Matossian came in and performed under pressure, punting it out of bounds at the three yard line. UC's defense would shut the door on fourth down with 10 seconds left, and the final horn sounded with UC on top 10-7 to take home the victory and raise the Brass Lantern trophy.
 
Cumberlands moves to 3-0 on the season and looks to pick up another big win at home next week as they take on Reinhardt. Gametime is set for 1:30 PM with live video available here.
 
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