WINCHESTER, Va. – Shenandoah University capped its second straight .500 season Saturday afternoon at rain soaked Shentel Stadium with a 20-12 Dixie Conference victory over Methodist College.
SU (5-5, 4-2) finishes the year with a four game winning streak and winners of five of its last six. Only a 24-21 overtime loss at Greensboro prevented the Hornets from completing its third season of intercollegiate football with a six game winning streak and a share of the Dixie Conference title. Saturday's victory, along with Christopher Newport's 35-7 win against Ferrum, places Shenandoah in tie for third place in the Dixie. CNU and Ferrum will share the conference title with 5-1 marks for the second straight year, with the Captains getting the automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs by winning the head to head matchup.
Despite losing six starters earlier in the week in a hazing incident, Methodist (3-7, 2-4) gave its hosts all it could handle in the Shentel mud. The Monarchs took the early lead at the 1:20 mark of the first when Demarcus Wilson completed a five play, 80 yard drive with a 4-yard TD run. Unfortunately for the Monarchs, two special teams miscues in the next two plays saw the Hornets take a lead they would never relinquish.
The extra point on Wilson's touchdown was blocked and then SU freshman Chris Gillette (Woodbridge, Va./Woodbridge) returned the ensuing kick 75 yards to the Methodist 12. Junior Anthony McGhee (Reston, Va./South Lakes) tied it three plays later on a 5-yard run and with Morgan Linkenauger's (Lanexa, Va./Lafayette) extra point, SU led for good at 7-6.
McGhee made the most of his second ever meeting with the Monarchs as it rumbled for a school record 197 yards on 28 carries. Both of these are new school records. The 197 yards breaks the record of 188 that McGhee had against Methodist in the 2001 season finale.
Shenandoah threatened to make it into a blowout by scoring one more time in the second quarter and early in the third to take a 20-7 lead, but a pair of missed field goals and a failed fourth down attempt on the Monarchs 15 allowed t Methodist to stay in it.
MC got itself to within eight with 11:22 to play on Chris Roncketti's three yard scamper on 4th and goal, but the visitors could get no closer than the SU 44 yard line on two more possessions.
In addition to McGhee's 197 on 28 carries, senior Dennis Robart (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio/Potomac State) added 48 yards on 13 carries and Wes Karns (Martinsburg, W. Va./Glenville State) 29 yards on seven carries. Freshman JJ Brown was 3 for 9 for 41 yards through the air.
Jeremy McSwain led Methodist with 109 yards on 7 carries while Maurice Washington had 10 carries for 71 yards. Roncketti passed for 24 yards on a 3 for 12 performance that included an interception.
Methodist coach Jim Sypult declined to comment directly on the hazing incident, saying, "We were down six starters, five on defense and one on offense. We were depleted in numbers and depth on defense, but offensively we were ok. We had a window to play football today and now we are going back to Fayetteville to clean up the mess."
