Phoenix offense stalls against Georgetown

Andy Reed, The Lebanon Democrat, Tenn.
Updated ·4 min read

Sep. 27—A week after scoring 37 points in a 10-point loss, a solid Cumberland defensive effort couldn't match the shutout pitched by visiting Georgetown as the Tigers took a 24-0 win last Saturday at Nokes-Lasater Field.

"We flipped sides there," Cumberland coach Tim Mathis said after his Phoenix fell to 2-2 for the season and 0-2 in the Mid-South Conference. "The defense played really well, especially in the second half. Offensively, we had a day kind of like the defense did last week. We couldn't get anything going."

Cumberland's best offensive drive came on the game's opening series as the Phoenix drove from their 21-yard line to the Georgetown 23 where they stalled on fourth down.

"We just could not finish," Mathis said. "You have downs were you want to be aggressive. But you got to execute and you got to make it happen."

Georgetown drove 77 yards in 10 plays going the other direction to score on Drew Hartz's 6-yard pass to Dillon Warren.

Cumberland got little going offensively the rest of the game.

Georgetown got a 33-yard field goal from Chris Cline early in the second quarter. The Tigers closed the first half with a 24-yard touchdown run by LaDarion Montgomery on a reverse with three seconds left for a 17-0 lead.

Gehrig Slunaker, who completed 6 of 8 passes for 116 yards in relief of Hartz, found JC Shegog down the middle for a 41-yard scoring strike three plays into the fourth quarter.

The Tigers had an opportunity to tack on a late score. But after drawing the defense offsides on fourth down to get a first down at the 12 with seconds to go, Slunaker twice took a knee as the No. 8 Tigers returned to Kentucky with a 4-0 mark, 2-0 in the Mid-South Conference.

Statistically, the teams didn't appear to be that far apart in yardage as Georgetown had 320 to Cumberland's 248. The Phoenix had the game's only turnover. But the Tigers did average 11 more yards per punt.

"The biggest deal is they had great field position the whole game," Mathis said. "We were backed up the whole game. They were getting the short field a lot, and that's a credit to them. Their punter (Drew Rader had a 20-yard pooch kick while Chris Cline averaged 50.6 on five punts) did an unbelievable job on the way they rugby-style kicked it.

"But it boils down to execution. And we knew it was going to be a challenge. Their defensive front's really, really good. We struggled with them at times."

The Phoenix will return to the road this week with a trip to Williamsburg, Ky., for a 6 p.m. CDT kickoff at the Cumberlands.

Georgetown 24,

Cumberland 0

Georgetown 7 10 0 7—24

Cumberland 0 0 0 0—0

First quarter

Georgetown—Dillon Warren 6 pass from Drew Hartz (Chris Cline kick), 6:16.

Second quarter

Georgetown—Cline 33 FG, 12:08.

Georgetown—LaDarion Montgomery 24 run (Cline kick), :03.

Fourth quarter

Georgetown—JC Shegog 41 pass from Gehrig Slunaker (Cline kick), 13:47.

Team statistics George Cumb

First downs 1 17

Rushes-yards 33-133 36-125

Passing yards 187 123

—Comp.-Att.-Int. 18-29-0 14-29-1

Punts-avg. 6-45.5 7-34.1

Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-0

Penalties-yards 1-11 7-65

Individual statistics

RUSHING—Georgetown: Drew Hartz 3-2, LaDarion Montgomery 1-24, Darius Neal 11-87, Isaiah Cobb 5-11, Jahmir Ackerson 3-14, Quincy Perrin 3-2, Gehrig Slunaker 3-2, Dillon Warren 1-3, Team 3-(-12). Cumberland: J.J. Johnson 4-11, Treylon Sheppard 9-40, Elijah Gaskin 1-4, Corey Johnson 10-18, Luke Holloway 10-43, Bryson Hill 1-(-3), Brandon Edmondson 1-12.

PASSING—Georgetown: Drew Hartz 12-21-0—71, Gehrig Slunaker 6-8-0—116. Cumberland: Luke Holloway 14-29-1—123.

RECEIVING—Georgetown: JC Shegog 1-41, Josh Gary 3-20, DJ Van Horn 1-31, Aaron Maggard 4-53, Darius Neal 1-5, Isaiah Cobb 1-(-1), Jahmir Ackerson 1-6, Dillon Warren 5-23, Frank Ilunga 1-9. Cumberland: Joe Johnson 6-63, Jaylen Taylor 5-41, William Spence 1-4, Treylon Sheppard 1-(-4), Corey Johnson 1-19.