WISE - - UVA Wise limited Union College to 131 yards of offense while picking off four passes en route to a 48-0 win at Carl Smith Stadium Saturday. Nasir Howell picked off two passes in his Cavalier debut to aid the program to its first shutout victory since Sept. 4, 2021 when the school scored a 54-0 win over Virginia University Lynchburg.
UVA Wise controlled the game from start to finish as redshirt sophomore DJ Powell capped the opening drive of the season with a 15-yard touchdown reception from fellow redshirt sophomore Juwan Dent. Powell's touchdown was the first of his career, putting the finishing touches on a 5-play, 56-yard drive.
Union (1-1) had its best drive of the evening on its first possession. The Bulldogs moved to the Cavs' 18-yard line before settling for a field goal attempt. Jacob Borden's 35-yard attempt would fall short, turning the ball back over to Dane Damron's squad.
The hosts would put together a second consecutive scoring drive as senior Jaevon Gillespie rushed for 43 of his game-high 101 yards on the drive. Redshirt junior Kellan Dalton capped the drive with a 39-yard field goal to make it a 10-0 affair with 5:31 to play in the opening quarter.
Dalton would boot his second field goal of the night with 10:01 to play in the first half to make it a 13-0 contest. Redshirt senior Jaylen Jones put UVA Wise in scoring position with an interception that gave his team the ball at the Union 48-yard line.
Sophomore Brub Hines would thwart the next Bulldogs' drive when he stormed through the offensive line to drop Union tailback Omarion Parks for a 3-yard loss on a fourth down and one play from midfield.
Seven plays later, Dent fired his second touchdown pass of the game when he found redshirt junior Dorien Goddard from three yards out. Following Dalton's conversion kick, UVA Wise was in front 20-0.
Redshirt junior Jordan Gillespie would essentially put the game out of reach on the first play from scrimmage in the second half. Gillespie would intercept a deflected pass and race 16 yards to the end zone to put the Cavs up four scores.
Former UVA Wise baseball player Shyheim Pannell scored on a 20-yard run later in the third quarter in what was the first touchdown of his career.
Redshirt freshman Da'Jon Barnes found the end zone for the first time in his career in the fourth quarter when he scooped up a botched snap on a punt and raced 17 yards for the score before running back Tyreeck Hall continued the stretch of first touchdowns when the freshman found pay dirt from two yards out for the final score of the game with 1:45 to play.
Gillespie averaged 6.3 yards per carry across 16 carries en route to the fifth 100-yard rushing game of his career. Goddard finished with five catches for 76 yards as Dent and Jake Corkren combined to go 19-for-27 through the air for 165 yards and two scores.
The Cavs' defense tallied 10.5 tackles for loss and two sacks in addition to the five forced turnovers.
Saturday's game featured 30 combined penalties for 336 yards, 18 of the penalties and 206 of the yards were assessed to the hosts.
With the victory, UVA Wise has won its season opener for the third consecutive season. The Cavaliers will attempt to start 2-0 for the first time since 2017 when the team travels to Thomas Moore University (Ky.) for a 12 p.m. kick next Saturday.
