COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Bridgewater’s Tate, E&H’s Jennings put on show

EMORY, Va. — Football games in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference are increasingly dominated by resourceful quarterbacks and brainy coaches who operate innovative passing schemes with multiple receivers.

Saturday’s ODAC thriller at Fred Selfe Stadium featured a heavy dose of old-school medicine.

Thomas Tate of Bridgewater and Caleb Jennings of Emory & Henry combined for 365 yards rushing and five touchdowns on 45 carries. The two juniors, who entered the game
leading the ODAC in rushing, performed like dueling dancers eager to win over the crowd.

Tate finished with 173 yards rushing and two scores, while Jennings compiled 192.

“Yeah, those runs [by Jennings] got me a little motivated,” Tate said. “A lot of people have said that Bridgewater doesn’t have any running backs. I wanted to prove them wrong.”

Of course, the 5-foot-7, 175-pound Jennings has been silencing skeptics since his glory days at Richlands High School. Despite drawing heavy attention from BC defenders
Saturday, Jennings ripped off scoring runs of 36, 5 and 42 yards.

Jennings passed on the praise to his teammates, including former Richlands standout Cain Ringstaff. In addition to picking up tough yards in key situations Saturday, Ringstaff set
the stage for the theatrics of Jennings with vicious lead blocks.

“Cain is probably the best fullback in the nation,” Jennings said. “I wouldn’t want to run behind any other back in the country. We both give 100 percent on every play.”

As for being the focal point of every defensive coordinator in the ODAC, Jennings said it’s “just part of the game.”

“I’ve been getting the ball probably 60 percent of the time, so teams are going to put more people in the box against us and make us do something else,” Jennings said. “We got the ball to other people today, and that opened some running lanes for me.”

Tate’s success story can rival that of Jennings. The 5-8, 195-pound junior from Staunton, Va., applied to Bridgewater six years ago but was not admitted. He made stops at Shenandoah, Liberty and a community college before finally being admitted to BC last January.

“Thomas is one of those great stories in Division III,” BC head coach Mike Clark said. “He actually came into the season as our third tailback.”

The top two tailbacks for the Eagles were both sidelined by season-ending knee injuries after the opening game of the season. Enter Tate and his quick feet.

“Thomas has been a pleasant surprise,” Clark said.

Tate shocked the E&H fans Saturday with his game-changing 54-yard touchdown run with 7:45 left in the game.

“I just ran to the left,” Tate said. “As soon as I saw my fullback [Ryan Richmond] blow his guy up on the block, I made my cut. It was speed from there on out. Richmond is a big part of my yardage.”

The fancy footwork of Jennings and the reaction of the loyal E&H fans added fuel for Tate.

“It’s hard to play here,” Tate said. “The crowd kept getting on us, but we just stuck to our plan.”

Jennings chatted with Tate after Saturday’s emotional loss. The emotion and exhaustion was evident in the faces of both relentless players.

“Every loss hurts, but a close game like this hurts us a lot worse,” Jennings said. “We just needed a couple more plays on offense and our defense needed couple more stops.”

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