LEBANON, Tenn.--Cumberland enters game three back at .500 after a big win over a tough Reinhardt team. This week the Phoenix welcome in Sun Conference opponent, Ave Maria, for a 6:00 p.m. kick-off on Saturday. 

The Phoenix take on Ave Maria for the second time in the all-time history. The first time these two teams met was in 2018 in Florida where Cumberland won a thriller 35-34 with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. 

Cumberland is building off an impressive game last week against Reinhardt where the defense and special teams sparked big plays for Cumberland. Cannon Johnson earned Mid-South Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors after leading the charge with 10 tackles, two sacks, 3.5 tackles for a loss, two pass break ups, and a fumble recovery for a touchdown. 

The offense put up 250 yards of offense with 151 coming on the ground. Sophomore running back Jacob Cornejo ran for 115 yards on 21 touches. Quarterback Zack Holtzclaw completed 8-of-17 passes for 99 yards and one touchdown. Kaiden Hatchett continues to be a swiss army knife in the rushing and receiving game. He carried the ball four times for 35 yards and also caught four passes for 42 yards and a score. 

The secondary made big plays in the Reinhardt game as Shaikyi Hannah notched eight tackles. Daniel Doegan added six. Daniel Smith had five tackles including the game-winning pick-six late in the fourth. Boston Follis was also in the mix from his linebacker position posting seven tackles with two tackles for a loss and one sack. 

Ave Maria is 0-1 suffering a 37-3 loss to Mid-South rival Lindsey Wilson. The Gyrenes put up 212 yard of total offense with most of that coming through the air with 163 passing yards and just 49 rushing yards. Ave Maria used three different quarterbacks in the game starting with starter and Florida Atlantic transfer Jayden George. George has also seen stops at Alabama and the University of Miami. George went 11-for-21 for just 55 yards. Logan Howard was the most effective quarterback against Lindsey Wilson completing 7-for-12 passes for 83 and one interception. He was also the leading rusher going for 56 yards on 11 carries. Nine different receivers caught passes in the game led by Izaiah Henderson and Joey Audia.

The Ave Maria defense allowed Lindsey Wilson to go for 341 yards of offense. They gave up 253 in the air and 88 on the ground. James Kingsbury posted 11 tackles in the game with one sack and one forced fumble. Brian Holmes had one interception and was second on the team in tackles with five. 

The game will be live on the Cumberland Sports Network. Christian Kaposy will be back in the booth along with Bob Lea. The duo will go on 30-minutes before kick-off at 5:30 p.m. on WANT FM 98.9, WCOR AM 1490, and the Cumberland Sports Network.