Williamsburg, KY – The Patriots knocked off #14 Reinhardt in the pouring rain Saturday afternoon to move to 4-0 on the season. UC's defense stepped up time and time again, forcing a season-high seven turnovers, while the offense outrushed the Eagles 215-167 and doubled RU's time of possession.
 
Head Coach Shan Houskeeper was proud of his team's performance in rough conditions saying, "Our guys took the challenge and didn't back down. It takes you back to being a kid playing in the rain, and that is what our guys did and handled it well."
 
Damon Brynes-Mitchell had a stellar performance on Saturday leading the team with 10 tackles, a forced fumble, and a pair of interceptions. Both picks came with just under two minutes on the clock, in a one-possession game. The first halted the Eagles drive at their own 7-yardline, and the other was caught as time expired to solidify the Patriots win. Darius James was once again playmaker for UC's offense rushing for 135 yards and a touchdown. Elijah Howard had his best game of the year at wide out, catching a pair of passes for 50 yards and a TD.
 
The Eagles received the opening kickoff and could not get much going as UC's defense forced a punt on the first drive of the game. Just two plays into UC's drive RU took the ball away, intercepting Jay Roberts pass. Reinhardt tried to take advantage of this miscue driving the ball all the way down to the Pats 3-yardline before a big hit by Byrnes-Mitchell knocked the ball lose, Jerdavian Colbert pounced on the loose ball in the endzone to get the offense back on the field.
 
The Patriots offense came alive over the remainder of the first quarter and into the second. The duo of James and Seth Huff in the Pats backfield picked up multiple first-downs before Roberts found Eli Evans and Romeo McKnight through the air to keep moving the ball downfield. The drive ended with a 20-yard pass from Roberts to Howard to give the Pats a 7-0 lead.
 
Both teams traded possessions over the next ten minutes of play before Walker Dunn forced a Reinhardt fumble. The linebacker came off the edge untouched and smoked the Eagles QB, knocking the ball loose in the process. Tilil Blackwell jumped on the ball on RU's 28 giving the offense a short field to deal with. The Patriots tacked three more points on the board off a Job Matossian field goal to take the 10-0 lead with 4:51 in the half. RU responded the opening play of their next possession, scoring off an 80-yard TD pass.
 
The final minute of the half was full of excitement, staring with a Seth Huff 43-yard run where he leaped over an Eagle defender. UC moved the ball all the way to the Reinhardt 7-yardline before turning the ball over on a fumble. The defense came back with a great response as Malik Thorton intercepted an Eagle pass with 25 seconds on the clock. UC tried to kick a field goal as time expired but missed just wide to keep the lead at 10-7 after one half of play.  
 
Cumberlands opened the third quarter with a punt. Reinhardt came away with another big play on offense, this time a 59-yard TD run to take the 14-10 lead with 7:28 on the clock. The rain started returned and made an immediate impact on the game. UC was driving down the field before a Huff fumble gave RU the ball on their own 20. The Eagles struggled with the wet conditions as well, fumbling the opening play of the next drive. Blackwell, who recovered a fumble earlier, got his hand on the ball and stripped it away leading to a Brynes-Mitchell recovery.
 
On the final play of the third quarter, UC's offense found their rhythm as Roberts connected with Howard for a 30-yard gain to move the ball within yards of the endzone. James finished the drive with a two-yard TD run up the gut to give the Patriots back the lead 17-14 with 14:56 left in the game.
 
Reinhardt picked off UC for the second time on UC's own 10-yardline, giving them great field position in a one-possession game. The Pats defense came up huge once again, stopping the Eagles on three straight plays to force a field goal tying the game at 17-17. The Patriots got the ball back and called on Stevie Orr to take over as QB. Orr made an immediate impact, picking up key yards on a quarterback keeper. UC went back to James on the ground, chewing the clock while marching the ball downfield. On a huge third-down, Orr scrambled for 12 more yards to pick up the first and get UC in field goal range. With just over two minutes left in the game, Matossian came in and knocked down a 35-yard field goal to give UC the 20-17 lead.
 
The Eagles were making progress down field, making it to the UC 32 before Damon Byrnes-Mitchell picked off an RU deep-ball attempt.  UC got the ball at their own seven, and forced Reinhardt to use all three timeouts, but couldn't pick up the first down, as on fourth down Orr stepped out of the back of the end zone for a safety cutting the lead to 20-19. The Eagles got the ball back with 26 seconds left but came up empty as Byrnes-Mitchell picked off the last second heave down the field. He would slide down as time expired to give the Patriots the win.
 
UC gets their first win against a ranked opponent this season and remain perfect heading into their bye week. The Patriots will be back on the field September 30^th for their first bout of Mid-South Conference play as they will face off with seventh-ranked Bethel University (TN).
 
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