BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Redshirt junior quarterback Matt Vollono came in relief off the bench and threw four touchdown passes to lead Campbell's football team (1-0) to a thrilling 48-28 victory over Methodist (0-1) at Barker-Lane Stadium/Ed Gore Field. The 48 points and 544 total yards in offense were both school records in the team's first victory at home since the program restarted last season.

Vollono picked apart the Methodist defense going 10-for-13 for 219 yards and four passing touchdowns. Redshirt junior Daniel Polk started and went 1-for-2 for 65 yards and a touchdown to redshirt sophomore Harrison Jordan. Jordan had a strong opening day with three catches for 82 yards and two scores. The Camels used a three-headed rushing monster with redshirt sophomore C.J. Oates leading the team with 95 yards rushing on 14 attempts. Fellow redshirt sophomore Carl Smith contributed 67 yards on 13 carries and sophomore Rashaun Brown tallied 61 yards on his 13 attempts.

The Camels had a balanced offensive attack with 260 yards rushing and 284 yards passing in the victory. The Campbell defense, after a tough first half, took control and limited Methodist to 14 plays and 36 total yards after the intermission. The Camel also won the time of possession battle 34:54 to 25:06. CU held onto the ball for just over 23 minutes in the second (23:09) to just under seven for the Monarchs (6:51).

Defensively redshirt sophomore Milton Brown led the team with 12 tackles. Fellow linebacker Lee Stanley, a redshirt junior, also reached double digits with 10 stops. Three Camels picked off passes in sophomores Cody Lyon and Erik Feliciano and redshirt sophomore Steven Goldsmith

Methodist started the scoring and marched down the field on a 12 play 67-yard drive capped off by the fourth down dive from quarterback Erik Teague for the game's first score. The Tyler Mosko kick was good to make the score 7-0 with 10:03 left in the first quarter.

CU quickly answered on the team's first offensive play from scrimmage as Polk connected with Jordan on a 65-yard bomb. The extra point from redshirt sophomore Adam Willets was good to tie the score at seven all at the 9:47 mark

Methodist went ahead on their next possession with Teague leading the Monarchs on a 10 play 74-yard drive finished off on Nathan Kindley's two-yard touchdown reception from Teague with 5:39 left in the first quarter

After a defensive stop the Monarchs continued the strong offensive showing on their next possession, marching down the field in eight plays and 84 yards with Teague's scoring his second rushing touchdown of the game, this one from six yards out, to make the score 21-7 after Mosko's extra point with 10:18 left in the second quarter. The big play of the drive proved to be when Reggie Scales scooped up a loose fumble from his fullback deep in his own territory and ran it 45 yards to the Campbell 40 yard line to flip the field for the Monarchs' offense.

The Camels answered with a score of their own when Vollono connected with redshirt junior Mike Stryffeler for a 28-yard touchdown to finish off the eight play 69-yard drive. Willets extra point was blocked to keep the score at 21-13.

After a defensive stop for the Camels' defense the offense got the ball deep in its own territory and again marched quickly down the field as Vollono connected with sophomore Carl Blain on the drive's second play for 85 yards and a touchdown. The play was the longest offensive play in school history. The made Willets extra point cut the deficit to 21-20 with 3:41 left in the first half.

Teague's offense promptly answered the CU score and marched down the field with his third rushing touchdown of the half to finish a nine play 59-yard drive and make the score 28-20 after Mosko's extra point with 00:52 left in the first half.

Campbell got the ball back before the end of the half and they again used a big play to find the endzone when Vollono hit sophomore Paul Constantine on a 54-yard strike to creep the Camels to within one at 28-27 after the Willets extra point with only 00:27 left in the half.

In what turned out to be the biggest play of the game and gave CU the lead for good, the Campbell special teams contributed a touchdown on the ensuing play when Willets' squib kick touched a Methodist player and was recovered in the end zone by freshman Paul Pizzuti to put CU up 34-28 with just over 00:17 seconds left in the first half. The 34 first half points for Campbell at home was as many points as they scored at home all of last season.

After the break both team's defenses registered stops before the Campbell offense march down the field on its second possession. Vollono finished off the 13 play 56 yard drive that covered 7:40 of clock time with an eight yard pass to Jordan. The touchdown catch was Jordan's second of the game and throwing score with the fourth of the game for Vollono, which is one more than he had all of last year.

Nursing a 13-point lead the Camels decided to use their offensive line and running backs on the next drive and pounded out an 11 play 66-yard drive that ended on Smith's five yard dive to increase the margin and would be final score to 48-28.

Methodist was led by Teague's three rushing touchdowns and ran for 36 yards. Teague also completed 15 passes for 173 yards. Brian Hopkins tallied six catches for 100 yards. Scales ran for 83 yards on seven attempts.

"I challenged the football team last night," Coach Steele explained the meaning of the first home victory. "I told them this is our home here. We spend a lot of our time here and if someone came into your home and tried to take something you would defend it. We need to defend our home. That is a goal I have for our football team. I want us to play well at home all season long. In our league we are so spread out that we are going to be playing all over the country. A lot of our fans in Raleigh, Dunn, Fayetteville and Lillington are not going to get to see us play unless they see us here. So it is important that we perform well when we are here."

Next the Camels will make the first road trip of the season and travel to Birmingham, Ala. to battle against Birmingham-Southern on Sept. 12 at 1 p.m.