September 20th, 2025 9:30pm
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. — It took nearly three extra hours thanks to lightning delays, but Carson-Newman snapped multiple losing streaks to No. 19/17 Lenoir-Rhyne in a dominating 24-7 win at Burke-Tarr Stadium Saturday.
For the Eagles (2-1, 1-1 South Atlantic Conference), the victory ends a six-game losing skid to LR (2-2, 2-1) and a five-game losing streak to the Bears at Burke-Tarr. C-N hadn't enjoyed a win over LR since 2018 in Hickory and 2012 in Mossy Creek.
In all, from the opening kickoff to the final whistle, more than five and a half hours elapsed, with much of it putting both teams in their locker rooms. The Eagles, holding a 17-7 lead, but with 10:26 to go in the contest, had to keep their heads in the game, while they waited for the literal storm to pass.
"We sat them down and talked to them," C-N head coach Ashley Ingram said of the delay. "We broke up offensively and defensively. We just told them basically we had to finish. What a great job our defense did. What a great job Coach (Tyler) Almond and our defensive staff did all week. We'd lost to them six in a row. I've been nudging them with the (combined) score, 242-85. As we told them after the game, 'Not today.'"
The seven points surrendered to Lenoir-Rhyne is the lowest allowed by C-N to a nationally-ranked foe since it's 1999 NCAA Division II playoff semifinal victory over then 20th-ranked Northeastern State, a game Carson-Newman won 42-7. Carson-Newman is 4-1 against ranked teams at home this decade with its only loss coming to Lenoir-Rhyne back in 2023. It was the seventh consecutive win for C-N at home – its longest home winning streak since tallying 10 straight at home from 2008-09. C-N has a 13th all-time seven-game home win streak.