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The Point Skyhawks overcame illness and injuries to win its second straight game against Kentucky Christian on Saturday.

The Skyhawks were missing several key pieces along the offensive line, but that didn’t stop them from establishing dominance in the trenches.

Point ran for 246 yards on 67 carries, and they had to find a way to move the ball with a true freshman quarterback.

Point lost starting quarterback, Brenton White, to a torn ACL.

They also lost quarterback Mitchell Gossett to a shoulder injury.

True freshman Austin Adcock stepped up under center, and he did what he needed to do to give the Skyhawks their third win of the season.

Point head coach Trevor Zeiders is proud of how his guys stepped up despite dealing with respiratory illness and injuries.

“Austin started his first game,” Zeiders said.

“Our left guard got hurt in practice. He’s out for the rest of the year. Our starting center had strep throat. Our backup centers were both sick. Our right tackle had a shoulder injury. We pretty much had somebody different at every position.”

Despite the loss of linemen, Point recorded 397 yards of offense, which was their second most in a game this season.

“To be able to overcome all that we overcame, it was one of the gutsiest efforts I’ve ever seen,” Zeiders said.

“It was all about the next man up. I was really impressed by AJ Rathbun. He started the season on the scout team, and he ended up rushing for 100 yards. He had a phenomenal day. I thought Austin did a great job in his first collegiate start. It was a great opportunity for him.”

Zeiders was also pleased with their new return specialist.

“Cam Simmons had 120 return yards on two kick returns,” Zeiders said.

“He hasn’t gotten a ton of opportunity, so that was a big deal. Guys made plays when they needed to.”

Zeiders was also pleased with his defense, who forced three interceptions.

Point’s Quan Neal earned Appalachian Athletic Conference defensive player of the week thanks to his two interceptions.

Zeiders planned to rely heavily on the run game due to the inexperience under center.

“We knew that we had to be able to run the ball,” Zeiders said.

“We needed to be able to protect Austin. Being able to run the ball opens things up in the pass game. We wanted Austin to manage the game. We didn’t want him to have to win the game for us. We were able to run, and they weren’t stopping us. I’ll take that all day long.”

Although the Skyhawks had no issues running the ball, Zeiders still wants his team to open the playbook offensively.

“We know we can run the ball against most people, but we want to be able to throw and catch,” Zeiders said.

“We haven’t done that as well as we would like. We still have work to do. We have to do what we have to do to win games, even if that means throwing 60 times. We’ve done well in the run game this year.”

Although the Skyhakws forced three interceptions, they also gave up some big plays that let Kentucky Christian quarterback Maxwell Ward throw for five touchdowns.

“We were a little aggressive, but they also made a couple plays,” Zeiders said.

“It was frustrating on both accounts. If you take away three of their passes, then they were under 200 total yards of offense. They had a 75 yard touchdown pass and 63 yard touchdown pass.”

Point also possessed the ball for 42 minutes, but Zeiders doesn’t believe that was a key contributor to their win.

“If you’re the more physical team you’re going to control the ball more,” Zeiders said.

“We controlled it way better than they did. We stopped their run game, which made them pass more.”

The Skyhawks will prepare for their next game against Reinhardt.