MURFREESBORO – Justi Roberson tossed a nine-yard scoring pass to Luke Irwin in the second overtime as Greensboro College outlasted Chowan, 13-7, here Saturday in a USA South Conference nail biter in front of nearly 2,000 fans at Garrison Stadium.

The loss drops the Braves to 1-1 overall on the young season as the team will now prepare for arch rival Ferrum College in another conference battle this Saturday (Sept. 20) in Murfreesboro. Meanwhile, Greensboro improved to 2-0 overall.

Despite the setback, the 2003 version of the Braves proved once again they have a flair for dramatic endings.

Last week, Chowan opened the season with a 21-20 win at Randolph-Macon where Xavier Hair hauled in a 58-yard scoring bomb from Taylor Furlough with 2:21 left in that contest. That same duo were at it again on Saturday as Hair out leaped a Greensboro defender in the endzone and came down with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Taylor with just 35 seconds left in regulation. Angel Bonilla’s PAT split the uprights, forcing overtime.

The Braves got the ball first to start overtime, but on third down, Furlough’s pass was picked-off by Charles Cobb.

Greensboro now had the chance to win the game and the Pride played it conservatively, keeping the ball in the middle of the field with short runs in order to set-up a field goal try by Erik Naglee. His effort from 46 yards was low and wide to the left, but Greensboro caught a break when Chowan was flagged for a five-yard penalty for running into the holder. That gave Naglee another chance from 41 yards, but this one never made it to the line of scrimmage as Chowan freshman Ronnie Fields raced in untouched from the left side, stretched out his 6’3&uot; frame and blocked the kick.

In the second extra session, Greensboro got the ball first and scored five plays later when Roberson found Irwin wide open in the endzone. Naglee’s kick sailed just wide to the left, but the Pride had the lead at 13-7.

Now it was Chowan’s turn. Former Williamston High School standout Antonio Tillman got the Braves a first down at the 15 yardline following his three runs for a combined 10 yards. From there, Tillman tried twice more to dent the Greensboro defense, but those two runs resulted in zero yards. Furlough then took to the air in an attempt to bail out the Braves. On third down, Hair broke free for a split second in the endzone, but Cobb was just barely able to bat the pass away at the last second. On the final snap, Furlough attempted to shoot a pass between a pair of Greensboro defenders covering Josh Floyd, who was running a pattern along the back line of the endzone. The pass was tipped and Floyd, despite a valiant effort to bend his body backwards, could only watch the ball fall harmlessly to the turf.

In regulation play, the game remained scoreless until early in the fourth quarter where, after forcing Chowan to punt from its own endzone, Greensboro used a 42-yard scamper by Quent Caldwell to highlight a four-play scoring drive capped by Roberson’s one-yard TD run. Naglee’s PAT staked the Pride to a 7-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Chowan – who finished with 232 yards of total offense, 47 more than Greensboro – saw several scoring opportunities fall by the wayside as Jesse Detwiler (48 yards; 3rd quarter) and Bonilla (37 yards; 4th quarter) each missed a field goal. Bonilla also had a 31-yard field goal attempt blocked on the game’s opening possession.

In addition, the Braves had a 25-yard touchdown pass from Furlough to Floyd nullified due to a clipping penalty during second quarter action.

Chowan, who limited their guests to only 185 yards, was led defensively by senior safety Keith Deloatch with 11 total tackles and eight stops by junior linebacker Adam Locklear.

Furlough was Chowan’s offensive leader, connecting on 15 of 35 passes for 133 yards. Brandon Squires, seven carries for 66 yards, led the Braves ground game.