Greensboro, NC (10/11/03) -- Freshman quarterback Jermaine Pitts (Winston-Salem, NC/RJ Reynolds) threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Gary Buchanan (St. Charles, VA/Lee) as time expired to give visiting Ferrum a 40-34 football win over Guilford Saturday. The winning play capped a wild contest that featured three lead changes, eight fumbles and a combined 804 offensive yards.

Pitts threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to help Ferrum overcome a 27-20 third-quarter deficit. His six-yard scoring strike to tight end Chris Silk (Ashland, VA/Patrick Henry) early in the fourth period broke a 27-27 tie. After the teams traded fumbles, Guilford tied the game at 34-34 on Chris Gammon's (Graham, NC/Graham) 16-yard scoring pass to Chris Barnette (Semora, NC/Person) with 4:43 left.

The Panthers answered with a nine-play, 62-yard drive to the Quakers' three-yard line where senior fullback Moncrief Holmes (Yorktown, VA/York) lost ball as he approached the goal line for what appeared to be a go-ahead touchdown. Guilford's Rod Long (Ruffin, NC/Bartlett-Yancey) came up with the ball and returned it to the Quakers' 17-yard line, but Guilford could only move to its own 31-yard line before punting the ball back to Ferrum.

Senior Ricky Peace (Hopewell, VA/Hopewell) returned Christian Adams' (St. Cloud, Fl/St. Cloud) kick to the Quakers' 46-yard line with 36 seconds left. Sophomore Dustin Hamoy (Richlands, VA/Richlands) gained nine yards on Ferrum's first play, which was followed by an incomplete pass and a 13-yard Pitts scramble to the Quakers' 32-yard line. Another incompletion sandwiched between Ferrum's last two time-outs set up the winning score. Buchanan ran a straight fly pattern to the end zone and hauled in Pitts' pass amidst decent coverage.

Ferrum's bruising and balanced rushing attack, combined with five Guilford fumbles, led to the Panthers' highest scoring output of the season. Holmes gained a game-high 96 yards on 22 carries and two touchdowns. His one-yard plunge on fourth-down late in the third quarter helped Ferrum tie the game at 27-27. The play capped a 21-yard drive set up by Jamires Poindexter's (Orange, VA/Orange County) recovery of Gammon's second fumble of the day. Hamoy gained 60 of his 76 rushing yards in the second half and scored a first-quarter touchdown. Pitts finished with 55 rushing yards on nine carries and completed six of 14 passes for 109 yards and two scores.

Senior Antonio McClenny (Virginia Beach, VA/Ocean Lakes) led Ferrum with eight tackles, including a sack and three tackles for loss, and forced a fumble. Poindexter added six tackles, forced a fumble, recovered one and broke up two passes. Phillip Monk (Swords Creek, VA/Honaker) made two of Ferrum's four sacks and freshman Craig Ford (Lynchburg, VA/Heritage) returned a Ryan Wilson (Roxboro, NC/Person) fumble 20 yards for a first-quarter touchdown.

The Quakers' third straight loss offset a solid performance by Gammon, who came off the bench to compete 10-of-21 passes for 186 yards and two touchdowns. His 67-yard scoring pass to Nick Harvey (Thomasville, NC/Thomasville) on the Quakers' first possession of the second half gave Guilford its first lead at 24-20. Harvey finished with two catches for 83 yards, while fullback Brian Caye (Chapel Hill, NC/Northwood) had three grabs for 63 yards, including a 45-yard touchdown catch from Josh Smith (Goldsboro, NC/Rosewood). Smith completed five of seven passes for 131 yards before leaving the game in the second quarter.

Guilford, which suffered a tough 13-7 loss at Greensboro last week, resumes league play next Saturday at two-time Old Dominion Athletic Conference champion Bridgewater. The Eagles are ranked 15th in this week's American Football Coaches Association poll and 16th by D3Football.com. Ferrum hosts Methodist next Saturday in a USA South Athletic Conference matchup.