Former McCallie School quarterback JaVaughn Craig had two touchdown passes and a touchdown run as part of his 164-yard rushing performance to lead Austin Peay to a 42-28 win at Sacramento State late Saturday in the second round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. Craig finished 18-of-28 passing for 204 yards with an interception, and he had a 58-yard run to set up his 18-yard scramble for a score as the Governors (11-3) went ahead 35-7 with less than six minutes to play in the third quarter. Austin Peay, in the FCS playoffs for the first time, set a program record for wins in a season and advanced to a quarterfinal Friday night at No. 5 seed Montana State (10-3). Sacramento State finished 9-4. Craig’s big night came two days after his high school alma mater won the Division II-AAA championship for the second TSSAA football state title in school history.
Tennis
* Four Tennessee Wesleyan men’s tennis players were part of historic program achievements in the fall semester, led by Valentin Popescu. Going 9-1 in singles during the semester, he became the first Bulldog to win an Intercollegiate Tennis Association regional and to advance to ITA Cup singles competition, and he was No. 10 in the final Oracle ITA NAIA fall rankings – the first top-10 singles player in TWU history. He was even higher – No. 3 – with teammate Gregorio Magnarelli in doubles, another first, and Patricio Gallegos at No. 35 and Jesus Fernandez at No. 39 gave the Bulldogs their initial three-man set of top-40 singles players. Gallegos was 6-1 in singles, Fernandez was 5-1 and Popescu and Magnarelli were 6-1, won the ITA Southeast Regional and finished third in the ITA Cup national event.
Basketball
* Before its exhibition game Sunday at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the Tennessee Wesleyan men’s basketball team won 81-68 in Appalachian Athletic Conference play Saturday at Truett McConnell. Bryant Bernard and Lorenzo Gatling each scored 14 points for the Bulldogs (5-5, 3-5), and Ty Patterson and Lawrence Castor had 10 and nine rebounds with 11 and nine points. Marquice Fifield had four of the Bulldogs’ 17 steals, Bernard and Patterson adding three apiece, and Jamesio Rhine collected eight rebounds. He and Castor totaled 11 offensive rebounds. Truett McConnell won the women’s game 70-66 with three players totaling 57 points; Hannah Cherry and Chloe Yearwood led TWU (3-6, 3-4) with 12 and 11.
Compiled by Ron Bush and Marty Kirkland. Contact Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291 and Kirkland at mkirkland@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6478.