LEBANON, Tenn.--Cumberland football jumped out to a 17-0 lead on No. 4 Bethel, but the Wildcats scored 27-unanswered points in the second half to come-from-behind to defeat the Phoenix 27-17.

Cumberland (3-7, 1-7 MSC) had control of the game for two and a half quarters, but the lightbulb switched in the third quarter and Bethel capitalized on a turnover to take over the game late. The Phoenix went for 302 total yards on offense throwing for 175 and rushing 127. Quarterback Luke Holloway completed 17-of-35 passes for 175 and threw two interceptions and ran for a touchdown. Running back Treylon Sheppard toted the ball 19 times for 88 yards to lead CU in rushing and Jaylen Taylor caught eight passes for 73 yards while Bryson Hill caught five for 51. 

Defensively, the Phoenix played well holding Bethel to 27 points. Cumberland had one interception by Jon Singleton that sparked a late touchdown just before the half. 

Bethel (11-0, 8-0 MSC) came back with 20 points in the fourth quarter to upend the Phoenix on senior day and cap a perfect regular season. The Wildcats ended up with 342 yards of total offense, 202 through the air and 141 on the ground. 

Quarterback Joaquin Collazo III completed 18-of-31 passes for 202 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Terrance Roberts rushed for 68 yards on 17 carries. Wide receiver Davius Prather caught six balls for 115 yards and two scores. 

Cumberland received the opening kick-off and took it 60-yards down the field before the Wildcats stopped Cumberland in the red zone to set up a 24-yard field goal by Hunter Mathis with 10:58 left in the first.

Both defenses played well the remainder of the half, Cumberland received a spark from Singleton with his first career interception on Senior Day to set up the Phoenix on Bethel’s 25-yard line. Three plays later, Holloway scrambled around the pocket and dove over a defender into the endzone to give Cumberland a 10-0 lead headed into the break. 

Cumberland opened up the second half with an 11-play drive 87-yards down field that JJ Johnson punched in one-yard out to extend the lead to 17-0 with 6:30 left in the third. 

From that point on Bethel, climbed back in quickly scoring three touchdowns in the matter of 5:13 second of game time. The first came on a third-down and Cumberland brought the house. Collazo lofted a ball to the endzone and Prather was able to make the grab for a 29-yard score to cut the lead to 17-7. 

Bethel forced a quick thre-and-out to get the ball back and followed with a 66-yard drive capped by a four-yard touchdown rush by Dakota Braswell to make it a one score game, 17-14.

The first play from scrimmage on the ensuing Phoenix possession, JJ Johnson fumbled the football and big man Darel Middleton picked it up and ran it 48 yards for a touchdown to give Bethel the lead with 11:40 to play. 

The Wildcats forced another Cumberland punt, chewed up five minutes of clock before punting the ball back to Cumberland for an opportunity with 2:52 to go. The first play from scrimmage, Holloway tried to go deep and Demetrice Gilbert intercepted the pass. Next play, Collazo flipped it to Prather on a short pass and Prather took it 41 yards for the score to ice the game with two minutes left as the Wildcats won 27-17. 

Cumberland honored 20 seniors before the game as a part of senior day festivities. Today marks the last day for those individuals to play football at Cumberland.