CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky.--On a cold and wet night, offesne was hard to come by for either side as Thomas More edges Cumberland 10-3 Saturday evening.

Cumberland (3-5, 2-3 MSC) could not get the ground game established and were forced into taking 10 punts in the match. The Phoenix produced just 239 yards of total offense, 179 came through the air. Cumberland made into the redzone just one time and came away with three points.

The Phoenix held the Thomas More (4-4, 3-2 MSC)  offense to 291 yards of offense. Cumberland was especially good on third down holding the Saints to 4-of-15 third down conversions. Thomas More was forced into nine punts, but their punter pinned CU inside the 20-yard line three times forcing Cumberland into long drives. 

Dylan Carpenter completed 21-of-35 passes, the most pass attempts and completions of his career, for 171 yards, most of that coming in the fourth quarter. He was intercepted one time on a ball that squeked off the hands of Jaylen Taylor. Styles Corder was his favorite target on the night as Corder racked up a career-high eight receptions for 76 yards. Taylor caught four passes for 30 yards and Ian Hafner caught four for 21 yards.

CU struggled rushing the ball posting just 60 yards on 30 carries. All-American running back Treylon Sheppard had 13 carries for 26 yards. Kaleb Witherspoon ran it three times for 14 yards and James Christian had six carries for 10 yards.

The Saints quarterback, Cookeville native, Blaine Espinosa completed 12-of-27 passes for 161 yards and threw one touchdown. Maleek Jarrett had 13 carries for 70 yards and Monallo Caldwell had 11 rushes for 55 yards. Charles Gaines Jr. had four receptions for 55 yards and Roques Dowdy two catches for 48 yards and a score.

Thomas More scored on their third drive in the first quarter as Espinosa threw a ball in the flat to Dowdy and he took it 35 yards into the endzone. The score capped a five play drive for 52 yards. 

Both teams offenses were idle in the second quarter and the Saints took a 3-0 lead into half. 

In the third quarter, Thomas More extended the lead to 10-0 after a 26-yard field goal from Alexander Haley. 

Cumberland rallied from the point on to fight back to get in the game. The Phoenix started a drive on their 17-yard line and drove down the field to allow Hunter Mathis to kick a career-long 33-yard field goal. 

The Phoenix defense got the ball back quickly to the offense with 2:23 to play. Cumberland drove down the field all the way to the Thomas More 28-yard line in five plays and in less than a minute. Carpenter then threaded a ball over the middle to Taylor that went off of his hands and was intercepted. 

Cumberland forced a three-and-out, but with seven second left, the quarterback, Espinosa skied a punt that Hafner fair caught. The clock expired and after a bried arguement from the Cumberland sideline that their should be one second left, the referees called the game over and Thomas More won 10-3.

Cumberland will be at home next Saturday in their final home game of the season. The Phoenix will honor their seniors before the game.