Bethel Football Moves to 3-0 With Victory in Georgia

COLUMBUS, Ga. — The No. 7 Bethel Wildcats remained undefeated with a 35-0 road win at Thomas University Saturday.

The Cats moved to 3-0 while the Night Hawks dropped to 0-2. It was just the second meeting between the two programs. Bethel beat the Night Hawks 48-14 last season in McKenzie. The Wildcats are 147-185 in overall play in the modern-day era.

Wet conditions and rain played factors in the game for both squads, but Bethel’s running attack sparked by outstanding offensive line play was a huge factor enabling the Cats to pick up the win. Bethel’s defense did their part as well frustrating the Thomas offense the entire game.

The Cats scored two touchdowns in the first quarter. C J Campbell Jr. had a 28-yard run for a score. Jordan Cason scored on a 62-yard run. Oziel Hernandez knocked in both point after attempts.

Neither team scored in the second stanza with the Wildcats leading 14-0 at the break.

The Wildcats took a 21-0 margin at the 8:44 mark of the third quarter. Kade Hewitt scooted into the endzone from 14 yards out. With eight seconds left in the quarter, Hewitt scored again from a yard out and Bethel led 28-0.

Jarvis Stockton scored the final points with 24 seconds left in the game as he rushed in untouched from 11 yards out.

Bethel dominated in yards rushing with a 403-48 advantage. The Cats only attempted three passes with all being incomplete. The Wildcat defense held Thomas to just 118 yards in total offense. Bethel’s defense is allowing just 5.3 points per outing which is fourth best in the nation.

The Cats had a 22-6 margin in first downs in the game.

Hewitt had a game high 125 yards in rushing yards. Campbell rushed for 97 yards while Cason finished with 93 yards on the ground.

Gregg Edwards led Bethel’s defense with eight total tackles, a sack and 3.5 TFL’s. Markel Crawford had four total tackles. Duston Chavis had a sack.

Game Stats: https://bethel.prestosports.com/sports/fball/2024-25/boxscores/20240914_fs7y.xml.

Coach Mike Jasper shared his thoughts about the game and his team. “Proud doesn’t begin to express how I feel about this program today. The conditions were far from favorable, but our guys were determined. We wanted to come out and put a complete game together and outside of a few hiccups, I feel like we did that. I’m excited to get home and dive into this bye week headfirst. Once we complete our self-scout we will begin to prep for another good opponent in Bluefield.”

The Cats are off next week and then travel to Bluefield on the 28th. Bethel returns home on October 5th to face the University of the Cumberlands. With another off week, the Wildcats play only one home game in the month of October.