WISE - - UVa-Wise will honor 17 seniors prior to Saturday's kickoff against No. 2 Shepherd University as the team takes part in annual Senior Day ceremonies. When the ball is kicked off, Dane Damron's crew will face its toughest opponent of the year and one that hasn't dropped a conference game in nearly three years.
Shepherd wrapped up the 2017 regular season Mountain East Conference race with its 49-12 win against Charleston last week. It marked the fifth time this season the Rams had defeated an opponent by 29 points or more. A big reason for Shepherd's success has been its offense. Senior quarterback Connor Jessop has passed for 300 or more yards five times this season, including last week when he passed for 317 yards and four touchdowns. As a unit, the Rams are averaging 523 yards of offense per game to lead the MEC and rank fourth nationally.
Shepherd's defense has been playing better of late as well. The Rams have held their opponent to two touchdowns or less in four of the last five games after allowing at least 20 points in each of the first four games. The defense is led by senior linebacker James Gupton who leads the team and ranks eighth in the MEC in tackles per game at 7.6. Gupton enters Saturday having posted a sack in each of the last two games. Against Charleston, the Waldorf, Md. product tied a season-high with 11 tackles to go along with two tackles for loss and a sack.
UVa-Wise came up just short last week in a 31-28 loss at Notre Dame College. Ball security was a big reason why, the Cavs turned it over just once in the game after having a turnover free game in the team's 65-0 win at Virginia University - Lynchburg. Redshirt sophomore Brycen Lee completed 18-of-25 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown while freshman Jarome Johnson rushed for 124 yards and a touchdown, in addition to throwing for 27 yards and a score. Junior Kaian Duverger was a favorite of both signal callers as he caught five passes for 67 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Five UVa-Wise receivers had multiple receptions in the game, including senior Carlton Griffith who caught four passes for 43 yards out of the backfield.
Kwadwo Diawuo led the way for the Cavs' defense as he posted a team-high nine tackles. Ed Kargbo, Chris White, Donavan Montague and Michael Tarrer had six stops each. Senior Ben Funny registered a sack in the loss to collect his seventh of the year. The defensive lineman has a sack in six of the last seven games and ranks seventh in the league.
UVa-Wise will be trying to nail down some statistical leaderboards in its final game of 2017. The Cavs lead the league in sacks per game (3.6), pass defense (159.1) and kickoff return average (24.03). UVa-Wise is also second in the league in total defense, allowing opponents 290.6 yards per game.
