Western Carolina 42, Chowan 0
Cullowhee, N.C. ? Western Carolina tailbacks Darius Fudge and Mike Malone each rushed for over 90 yards and combined for three touchdowns while as the Catamounts opened the 2006 season with a 42-0 victory over Chowan Thursday night at E.J. Whitmire Stadium/Bob Waters Field. With the win, Western has now won nine straight home openers and improved to 23-9 all-time in such games since the opening of Whitmire Stadium in 1974.
In addition to Fudge (17 carries for 93 yards with two TDs) and Malone (14 carries for 91 yards and 1 TD), Western was led by preseason All-Southern Conference safety Mitchell Dukes, who intercepted his second career pass and returned the ball 18 yards for a touchdown, while Eddie Cohen caught four passes for 85 yards and a score.
The Catamounts, who scored touchdowns on four of its first five possessions, got on the board midway through the first quarter as Bennett Swygert, who was seeing his first action since 2004, hit junior Michael Hines on a 26-yard touchdown down the right sideline. Swygert sat out last season after multiple surgeries on his knees and shoulders only to return to the starting lineup and complete 8-of-16 passes for 156 yards and two TDs.
Late in the first quarter, Swygert put Western in scoring position with a 27-yard pass to Cohen and a 17-yard pass to Chris Jefferson, setting up an eight-yard Fudge touchdown. Swygert and Cohen accounted for most of WCU’s yards on the next possession, hooking up for a 29-yard pass and a 15-yard score.
On Western’s final possession of the half, Fudge rushed for 32 yards on the 50-yard drive, including a one-yard TD, to put the Cats’ up 28-0.
Chowan threatened at the end of the first half, putting together an impressive 12-play, 58-yard drive which took 6:04 off the clock. However, on fourth-and-four on the WCU 22, WCU junior linebacker Travis Hill tipped a pass, which was intercepted by senior Bruce Lee for one of four Catamount picks. Western took a knee on the ensuing play to run out the clock in the half.
The second half began with Western being forced to punt for the first time in the contest. However, three plays later, the Cats scored on Dukes’ interception return.
Western capped the scoring early in the fourth quarter as Malone had all four carries in a 32-yard drive, including a six-yard score.
Defensively for Western, Hill had seven stops, while Josh Smith, Shelton Gaffney and Brandon Drumgoole each had six tackles. Gaffney added an interception, as did Carlton Bailey.
For Chowan, quarterback Sam Williams had 16 rushes for 50 yards, while completing 8-of-17 passes for 55 yards with four interceptions. Jack Ross added 34 yards rushing on 15 attempts. Ronnie Field paced the Hawk defense with seven tackles with Matt Virgil adding six stops.
Western Carolina will have next week open before returning to Whitmire Stadium on Sept. 16 to host Eastern Kentucky. That game, which will also be Western’s Athletics Hall of Fame weekend, will start at 6:00 pm and be the first of three game versus preseason top 20 teams. The Colonels were tabbed 20th in the I-AA preseason poll. The following week, Western will travel to preseason number five Furman before returning home to host preseason number 12 Georgia Southern.
Chattanooga 31, Tennessee Tech 7
UTC TAILBACK ELDRA BUCKLEY RUNS FOR 204 YARDS TO LEAD UTC PAST TENNESSEE TECH
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. --- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga running back Eldra Buckley rushed for 204 yards and three touchdowns Thursday and led the Mocs to a 31-7 season-opening victory over Tennessee Tech.
Buckley scored on runs of 63, 11 and 76 yards and became the 10th back in UTC history to surpass 200 rushing yards in a game.
“Our offensive line was tremendous tonight,” Buckley said. “Everyone thought we would have a young line, but they opened the holes for me tonight. If I wouldn’t have gotten hurt, the numbers could have been better. But some of our younger backs were able to get in the game and get some work.”
Buckley outscored the Golden Eagles in the first half. He registered the game’s first score on a 63-yard touchdown run on the Mocs’ second offensive play of the game. The senior added an 11-yard scoring run early in the second quarter, and his 76-yard run shortly before halftime pushed the Mocs’ lead to 21-7 at halftime.
Buckley’s 76-yarder was his career long. That offensive series for the Mocs began on their own 20-yard line. After gaining four yards up the middle on first down, Buckley took an inside handoff to the left, weaved back to the right behind his blockers and outraced the defense to the end zone pylon. The run at 1:21 of the second quarter gave UTC a 21-7 lead and put him over 200 yards for the game.
Buckley’s previous career best performance was 210 yards in a 35-25 loss at eventual National Champion Appalachian State last season.
The Charleston, Miss., native appeared to suffer an ankle injury in the third quarter. He reentered the game one more time a series later, but never re-entered after the outcome was virtually decided.
Tennessee Tech tied the score at 7-7 on an 11-yard run by tailback Anthony Ash at 8:23 of the first quarter. The Golden Eagles generated 138 total yards in the first half, but UTC’s defense limited Tech to just 27 yards in the entire second half.
UTC kicker Esteban Lopez, who also tacked on four extra point kicks, booted a 30-yard field goal at 5:38 of the third quarter to extend the margin to 24-7.
True freshman running back Erroll Wynn got in on the act in the fourth quarter. Wynn raced 52 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown with 8:29 to play, giving UTC a 31-7 advantage.
The Mocs generated 336 rushing yards, the first time in six years that the team surpassed 300 yards on the ground. Wynn finished with 61 yards on five carries. T.T. Harper picked up 57 yards on 10 carries.
Quarterback Antonio Miller completed 10-of-15 passes for 98 yards. He was not intercepted. Buckley was his favorite target with three catches for 16 yards. Blue Cooper caught two balls for 31 yards in his UTC debut, and Emanuel Hassell made two grabs for eight yards.
Derek White led Tech with 54 rushes on 15 carries. Quarterback Lee Sweeney threw for 106 yards in his Tech debut. He completed 13-of-24 passes and had two interceptions, one by Raeshon Ball and the other by Jeff Phillips.
Tech wideout Larry Shipp made six receptions for 58 yards.
Linebacker Evan Hermanson led UTC defenders with eight tackles, including two behind the line. Linebacker Chris Johnson added seven hits, and Phillips totaled six. Lineman Craig Gilbeaux recorded a quarterback sack and stripped the ball into his own hands, all on the same play.
Punter Jonathan Wright was a weapon with his foot, averaging 42.1 yards on seven punts. He recorded punts of 55 and 50 yards.
UTC travels to Memphis, Tenn., next Saturday to take on the Memphis Tigers of Conference USA. Kickoff at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium is set for 8 p.m. ET.