Ogun, CNU have their way running over Averett

Whatever it is about playing Averett University, the Cougars are happy they will not have to see Christopher Newport senior running back Tunde Ogun after this season.

Ogun ran over Averett again, rushing for a school-record 285 yards and scoring three touchdowns in the Captains’ 43-12 USA South Conference victory Saturday at the Cougar Den.

“He’s just a threat,” Averett junior linebacker and former Chatham standout Logan Smyth said after recording six tackles. “We know he’s going to be good, we know he’s going to carry the ball and we try to account for that. Somehow, we missed tackles, missed assignments.”

Christopher Newport (3-2, 2-0 USA South) ran the ball 72 times — the most ever by an opponent against Averett. The Captains racked up a whopping 509 yards on the ground, holding the ball for an astounding 43:25 and picking up 26 first downs as the Averett defense, which had been the backbone of the Cougars’ three-game winning streak, was worn down on the humid day.

“He’s an All-American,” Averett coach Mike Dunlevy said of Ogun. “It was discouraging that we weren’t able to do better against him and their offense.”

Ogun rushed for 228 yards and a touchdown in the Captains’ 19-13 victory last season in Newport News and added 112 yards on the ground in 2007. Ogun’s third touchdown run set a CNU school record for most career touchdowns.

“I definitely felt good today,” Ogun said. “My second game back full force and I just wanted to come out here and just really contribute. We knew we were going to be able to run the ball against them. It was all about execution and that’s what I did.”

Averett (3-2, 1-1 USA South) was able to get some momentum when junior wide receiver Jeremy Dixon returned a CNU kickoff 88 yards for touchdown with 44 seconds left in the first quarter to close the deficit to 14-6.

CNU then proceeded to rush for 193 yards in the second quarter, stealing all momentum and easily winning the time of possession battle.

“I think a bunch of it was just a bunch of blown assignments,” Averett senior linebacker and former Tunstall standout Mario Huffman said after recording a game-high 10.5 tackles. “We was right there when it was 14-6 and they just kept pounding it and we couldn’t find a solution to wrap them up.”

Averett struck again early in the fourth quarter when Cody Ladutko found Chris Williams on a quick pass. Williams slipped through several tacklers, followed several outstanding blocks by his fellow wide receivers and ran 36 yards for a touchdown to close the CNU lead to 30-12.

The Cougars’ inability to control the ball resulted in a horrible day running the football. Averett was held to minus-3 yards rushing on 18 attempts, not allowing Ladutko and the passing attack to take flight.

Ladutko finished 13 of 26 passing for 194 yards and the touchdown. Dixon finished with 72 yards receiving, which included an exciting 45-yard catch-and-run in the first quarter. Anthony Squillini was held to a quiet 41 yards receiving on five catches.

“We didn’t run the football well. We’ll be even more successful throwing the football once we run it,” Dunlevy said. “Once you become one-dimensional, then people are going to start keying on that and that’s why we’ve got to start running the football better.

“We have a good football team. We didn’t play well today.”

Christopher Newport 43, Averett 12
CNU 14 7 9 13 -  43
Averett 6 0 0 6 -  12
First quarter
CNU – Epps 3 run (Bourne kick), 9:18
CNU – Ogun 2 run (Bourne kick), 1:00
AU – Dixon 88 kickoff return (kick failed), :44
Second quarter
CNU – Ogun 64 run (Bourne kick), 3:04
Third quarter
CNU – Ogun 3 run (Bourne kick), 7:20
CNU – Team safety, 5:07
Fourth quarter
AU – Williams 36 pass from Ladutko (pass failed), 13:02
CNU – Reid 1 run (Ponton kick), 3:35
CNU – Gaines 19 run (kick failed), :02
Team statistics
CNU AU
First downs 26 11
Rushes-yards 72-509 18-(-3)
Passing yards 79 194
Passing 6-9-0 13-27-1
Total offense 588 191
Penalties-yards 8-70 6-60
Fumbles-lost 1/0 1/1
Punts-avg. 3-130 5-139
Time of possession 43:25 16:35
Individual statistics
Rushing: CNU – Ogun 34-285, Epps 13-69, Legister 12-54, Foster 2-43, Preli 1-37, Gaines 4-15, Reid 5-7, Schoeffel 1-(-1). AU – Hughes 6-14, McCall 2-12, Watson 3-1, Williams 1-0, Ladutko 6-(-30).
Passing: CNU – Epps 5-8-0 44, Schoeffel 1-1-0 35. AU – Ladutko 13-26-0 194, Kwiatkowski 0-1-1 0.
Receiving: CNU – Thompson 1-35, Spradlin 1-20, Preli 1-9, Foster 1-8, Legister 1-6, Ogun 1-1. AU – Dixon 2-72, Williams, C. 3-68, Squillini 5-41, Oristian 1-14, Williams, M. 1-2, Hughes 1-(-3).