Point Football unable to squeeze by Reinhardt

VALLEY, Ala. (Sept. 17, 2022) - The Point University football team returned home to Ram Stadium for a Week four matchup Saturday afternoon against Reinhardt University and fell 24-14. 

The Eagles received the ball first to open the game on offense. Point's defense continued their hunger in the trenches as they forced Reinhardt to punt. The Skyhawks' offense took the field and could not ask for a better start to the drive as Brenton White connected with Emery Bryant on a 44-yard pass on the first play. Two plays later, the Skyhawks marched their way into the endzone when White found Javien Leeks for a 13-yard touchdown. The PAT field goal was made by Giovanni Martinez to make the score 7-0. Reinhardt looked to cook up a scoring drive of their own, but Point forced a three and out. Point's defense would continue to make it tough for Reinhardt as they forced a turnover on downs on their next drive. With five minutes left in the first quarter, the Eagles took control of their possession to drive the ball down the field with their ground-and-pound running game. With the Eagles in the red zone, Hunter Arters completed a 2-yard touchdown pass to Jake Wallace. Reinhardt's field goal would be good to tie the game at seven and take the game into the second quarter. 

Beginning the second quarter, Point's offense looked to control the tempo by trying to answer back with another touchdown of their own. White helped drive the ball down the field for the Skyhawks, but the Eagles remained solid, forcing a turnover on downs to gain possession of the ball again. With Point of defense, they were on a mission to not let the Eagles score on the drive and would come out successful after a few quick stops. On third down, Kemorion Larkin stepped up with a big moment and sacked Arters to force the Eagles to punt again. The next two drives on offense saw both teams unable to move the ball with much success as they neared the half. In the final minute, Reinhardt forced the first turnover of the game with an interception by Tyler Hallum. The Eagles looked to go into the half by finding any kind of way to take the lead but would be unsuccessful after a few stops from Point and a missed field goal by Reinhardt. The score would remain tied 7-7 at the half. 

The Skyhawks received the ball first in the third quarter and looked to get that same spark they started the game with. Reinhardt reversed how the first quarter went by forcing Point to punt and creating a scoring drive on their first drive of offense after Arters threw for his second touchdown of the game. Reid Schratwies made the kick attempt to bring the score to 14-7. The Skyhawks took the field looking to find their way back into the endzone, but Reinhardt would not let the drive go any further. The score would remain 14-7 as both teams went into the final period of play. 

Reinhardt looked to steal the joy from Point by controlling the game with another drive but would have to settle for a field goal to bring the lead to 17-7. Point's next offensive drive would result in only two yards with a total time of possession of 16 seconds to give the ball back to the Eagles. With that successful drive from the defense, the Eagles' offense took the field and moved the ball with a sense of urgency to score their third touchdown of the game after a 13-yard run by Devyn Collins, which would extend the lead to 24-7. With six minutes remaining, the Skyhawks showed signs of life that started on the special teams as Chris Pittman gave Point great field position with a 47-yard kickoff return. The Skyhawks' offense fired with a few passes that set them up in the red zone. With it being first and goal, Mitchell Gosset found Jared Posey wide open in the endzone for a 3-yard touchdown. This touchdown would bring the Skyhawks down by 10 with three minutes remaining. Point's defense took the field and stood tall to create another opportunity for the Skyhawks' offense to get a chance to score. Point looked to get their two-minute drill going with a few quick passes and a first down conversion by Leeks to bring the Skyhawks into scoring territory. The back end for the Eagles held their ground to help the Eagles get a defensive stand to end the game with a final score of 24-14 

In the Box 

The Eagles out-converted the Skyhawks 18 to 13 on first down attempts. Point did have more passing first downs (9 to 7) but only had two rushing first downs compared to Reinhardt's nine. 

Point had 223 total yards on offense, and the Eagles had 278. The Skyhawks out-dueled the Eagles in the air with 155 passing yards compared to Reinhardt's 125. The Skyhawks had a total of 69 rushing yards off 26 attempts. 

Brenton White took most of the snaps under center, going 8-for-16 with 110 yards and a touchdown. 

Mitchell Gossett also took snaps at Quarterback, going 7-for-12 with 45 yards and a touchdown.  

Sensir Carnes led Point in the running game with 20 yards off seven attempts, with his longest rush at six yards. Shiloh Addo-Nobles contributed 14 yards off three rushes, with his longest rush being 10 yards. 

In the air, Emery Bryant led with four catches for 79 yards. Javian Leeks added four catches as well, along with a touchdown. 

Quan Neal led the Skyhawks' defense with 12 tackles (five solos), and Aaron Anderson followed with 10 tackles (five solos) along with a sack. Davyon Dukes contributed with nine tackles (four solos). Kemorion Larkin tacked seven tackles (five solos) with two sacks and a forced fumble. 

Up next 

Point will look to put that game behind them as they travel to face Birmingham-Southern College Saturday, Sept. 24. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.