Western Carolina 27, Chattanooga 7

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. ? Freshman wide receiver Andrerius Thomas caught two fourth quarter touchdown passes while classmate Levon Curtis rushed for a career-best 104 yards as Western Carolina snapped a 20-game Southern Conference losing skid with a 27-7 win over the Chattanooga Mocs Saturday afternoon at E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field.

Junior kicker Blake Bostic also booted a pair of field goals in the win which not only snapped WCU’s drought in league play, but also ended a five-game seasonal slide and a two-game slump against the Mocs. The SoCon victory was Western’s first since blanking Wofford, 24-0, back in 2005 in Cullowhee.

“I am proud of our players and coaches for sticking with it. Our coaches came up with a great game plan today,” said head coach Dennis Wagner after emerging from the victorious locker room. “Defensively, we played a tremendous game. Offensively, we had many opportunities and we didn’t take advantage. Certainly we’ll watch the film and take the chance to scold them when we get that chance, but for now, we need to enjoy the victory.”

Senior offensive lineman James Singletary echoed Wagner’s sentiments following the 20-point victory.

“It has been a long time coming,” said the Kernersville, N.C., native. “The feeling now is wonderful. I remembered how it felt (to win) and I wanted to get back to it.”

With five Hall of Fame inductees, including former football players John Ruta, Alonzo Carmichael and Brad Hoover looking on, the Catamounts ? without three key starters in senior WR Donald James, red-shirt sophomore Marquel Pittman and running back Quan Warley ? turned to the true freshmen Thomas and Curtis on offense.

Thomas finished with three catches, two of which went for scores of 21 and 17 yards for 44 total yards in the win, while Curtis rushed 18 times for 104 and caught a pair of passes out of the backfield for 15 yards.

Sophomore wide receiver Adam Hearns led all receivers with seven catches for 59 yards and a touchdown. On the business end of all three TD passes was red-shirt freshman QB Zack Jaynes, who finished 14-of-25 for 146 yards, with the trio of scores marking a career single-game best. The Canton, N.C., native also rushed 11 times for 62 yards.

“We had a lot of young guys on offense that had to play because of injuries,” Wagner added. “When you have Quan Warley, Donald James and (Marquel) Pittman on the sidelines, that’s a lot of offense. The young kids played well, that’s part of the game ? who is going to pick up the flag and move forward. They knew that sometime during this season, their number would be called. They prepared themselves to be in that role and they are going to play a lot of football for Western and take this program to where we want it to go.”

Defensively, the Catamounts set the tone by limiting Chattanooga to 178 yards of total offense, the second-lowest output this season (limited Shorter to 142) and did not give up a score to UTC’s offense.

Junior linebacker Quintin Phillips posted a game-high 14 tackles including two for loss and a sack, while classmate Antoine George recorded two interceptions and sophomore Mitchell Bell tallied a third pick in the win. WCU also blocked a punt and picked up a pair of fumbles, both recovered by senior Jeff Bradley. Junior Chris Collins forced his SoCon-leading fifth fumble of the season.

All told, the Catamounts forced five turnovers with four sacks, holding UTC to an opponent season-low 77 total yards on the ground including four sacks for 49 yards.

Western Carolina (3-7, 1-5 SoCon) capitalized on one of the early Chattanooga miscues as it took a lead it would never relinquish late in the first quarter. After the two teams traded punts, the Catamount defense forced a second UTC punt inside its own five yard line. On the ensuing kick, the snap was low and punter Jeff Lloyd could not handle it, recovering before fumbling it forward where a teammate was able to jump on the loose ball, but still giving WCU possession on the turnover on downs.

One play later, Jaynes found Hearns from four-yards out for the early, 7-0, lead. The receiving score was the third of Hearns’ career, and second in as many weeks.

Bostic extended the Catamount lead to 13 on back-to-back field goals of 20 and 26 yards, respectively, in the second quarter to give Western a 13-0 halftime lead. It was the second-straight week that WCU had led at intermission while keeping its opponent off the scoreboard.

In the third quarter, Chattanooga (1-8, 0-5 SoCon) mounted its best drive of the game, moving 61 yards in nine plays into the Catamount red-zone. However, the WCU defense stiffened and on a fourth-and-six, Collins broke through on a delayed blitz to sack Mocs QB Sloan Allison for a 12-yard loss and another turnover on downs.

UTC would find a sliver of life late in the fourth quarter, trimming the Catamount advantage to six points, 13-7. Cornerback Raeshon Ball intercepted Jaynes, returning the pick 41 yards for what would prove to be Chattanooga’s lone score.

On the ensuing possession, Curtis returned the Mocs’ kickoff to near mid-field, but the Catamount offense could not sustain a drive, punting six plays later. Freshman punter Blake Cain, who averaged over 40 yards on his seven kicks while also pinning five inside UTC 20, backed Chattanooga inside its own 15 yard-line at the 12. Three plays later, with Lloyd on to punt again, WCU freshman Trey Selby broke through to block the kick, stemming the Mocs’ momentum.

Three plays after the blocked punt, Jaynes found Thomas from 21 yards out for his first of two TDs and a 20-7 advantage. Midway through the half, George’s second interception of the contest led to a second Jaynes-to-Thomas connection to provide the final tally, 27-7.

Chattanooga, which was held to a touchdown-or-less for the sixth time out of its nine seasonal games, was led by 95 yards rushing from Erroll Wynn. Starting QB Jare Gault finished 8-of-15 for 57 yards and was sacked three times before being lifted by Allison who was 5-of-19 for 44 yards and three INTs.

“It’s the same mistakes we have made all year,” said Chattanooga head coach Rodney Allison following his team’s seventh-straight loss. “We have not improved; we have not coached them well enough to improve. I give credit to Western Carolina, but we were inept offensively today.”

Western Carolina returns to action next Saturday as it visits No. 12/10 Elon, which had its bye week this week. Kickoff from Rhodes Stadium is set for 1:30 pm. Chattanooga hosts SoCon leader Appalachian State next Saturday at 2 p.m.

Georgia Southern 44, The Citadel 41 (3 OT)

Final Stats

CHARLESTON, S.C. - It took a program-record three overtimes, but Georgia Southern outlasted The Citadel 44-41 Saturday afternoon (Nov. 1) at Johnson Hagood Stadium. The Eagles improved to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the SoCon while the Bulldogs fell to 3-6, 1-5.

The two previous longest games both went double-overtime (loss in 2006 to Appalachian State and loss last year at Elon). Georgia Southern has now played seven overtime games in its last 21 contests, including a record four this season alone (3-1).

Late in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs drove deep into GS territory setting up for a potential game-winning field goal. However, when Jordan Panter missed from 32 yards (the team’s fourth missed FG) Georgia Southern was able to dodge a bullet and took a knee to force OT.

During the decisive third OT, Terrell Dallas rushed for 16 yards on first down, then another five to set up 2nd-and-goal from the four. The Eagle defense held firm along the line, keeping quarterback Bart Blanchard out of the endzone on two consecutive rushes. Facing 4th-and-goal from the one, the Bulldogs decided to go for a 19-yard FG converted by Sam Keeler.

Antonio Henton rushed for five yards, then connected with Michael McIntosh for seven yards and a first down. True-freshman Adam Urbano ran for six yards then redshirt-freshman Zeke Rozier gained four yards and another first down at the three. On the very next play Urbano dove up the middle and scored, capping the come-from-behind win.

“I really thought that early on our defense played outstanding and of course in overtime they were wore out. The bad things was that offensively we couldn’t ever get in any rhythm and that really hurt us. We had opportunities to score, put points on the board and get us a comfortable win very early on but could not do it,” said head coach Chris Hatcher. “To Citadel’s credit I think they are one of the best coached teams in the SoCon. They came out in a defense they hadn’t run all year and so it took us a little while to adjust.”

During the first OT, Citadel had first possession and needed three plays for Dallas to score from four yards out. The Eagles also needed three plays to score, capped by Henton’s pass to Rozier from 13 yards out, the first collegiate TD reception for Rozier.

In the second OT, Henton and Raja Andrews connected on the first play for a 25-yard score. That reception was the 10th in the game by the senior wide receiver, not only a career-high total but one that also broke the program’s single-game record. The Citadel scored when Blanchard found Taylor Cornett for a 2-yard score, tying the game at 38-all.

Once again the Eagles found themselves down early in the game due to a miscue. The Eagles held The Citadel on its opening drive but the punt was downed on the five. Facing 3rd-and-long from the five, Henton went back to pass but Tolu Akindele broke through the line and recorded a safety. That was the first time an opponent recorded a safety since App State did so in October 2001, a span of 88 games.

Two plays later Blanchard connected with Andre Roberts on a screen pass. Thanks to two blocks on the corner, Roberts was able to go 52 yards for a touchdown, making it 9-0 with 9:45 remaining in the first quarter.

The turnover bug hit GS again on the ensuing drive as Henton fumbled in Citadel territory, however, was able to escape without any harm when a bad snap led to Keeler’s missed field goal from 37 yards.

GS converted on 4th-and-inches late in the first quarter but was flagged for holding. That brought on the punt team. Charlie Edwards received a clean snap, but Mel Capers blocked his third punt of the year, and The Citadel eventually recovered on the Eagles 11. An 8-yard tackle for a loss, holding penalty and two incomplete passes forced a field goal attempt from 45 yards but Dakota Walker broke through the line for his first career blocked kick.

In the second Georgia Southern drove into the redzone, keyed by Leander Barney’s 19-yard reception. Three plays later Urbano hit the right corner and scored from four yards out. Adrian Mora nailed the extra point to make it 9-7.

Later in the quarter the Bulldogs drove down the field and scored when Roberts scored from five yards out to make it 16-7.

Georgia Southern responded late in the quarter when Henton found Andrews over the middle for a 12-yard touchdown pass. That quarter Andrews set yet another GS receiving record, this one for most catches in a season.

Keeler missed from 40 yards out at the end of the half to keep it 16-14.

Andrews started the second half with a career-long 66 yard kickoff return, down to the 19. Henton took over and three rushes later scored from a yard out as the Eagles took a 21-16 lead.

Panter missed a 27-yard field goal on the ensuing drive, but the Eagles were flagged for leaping which gave the Bulldogs 1st-and-goal on the five. Blanchard needed three plays but eventually completed a TD pass to Alex Sellars, then converted the 2-point conversion on a pass to Cornett to go ahead 24-21.

With 3:42 left in the game, Mora hit a 37-yard field goal which tied the score at 24-all.

“We got down early in the game and of course there was no panic. Nine points isn’t anything to us right now. All in all you have to be proud of your team. They keep fighting through adversity each and every week, and they just find a way to win,” said Hatcher. “It’s always nice to win big but if you know you’re going to win those close ones it builds a lot of confidence and you can’t say enough about the character of our team.”

Andrews now holds the Georgia Southern single-game (10), season (46 and counting) and career (109 and counting) receptions record.

He finished with 102 yards in the game, the fourth time this season and career he reached the century mark. Andrews now holds sole possession of both the season and career records in that category as well. Those 102 yards push his season total to 677, setting another season record for most reception yards (Chris Johnson had 673 in 2000).

Andrews’ two touchdown receptions tied a career-high. He is now tied for eighth-most TD receptions in a season (4) and holds sixth place all-time (8).

Henton completed 21-of-35 passes for 261 yards and a career-high three touchdowns passes. That yardage marked the fourth time this year the sophomore quarterback threw for at least 200 yards in a game, tying him with Tracy Ham (1984) for most 200-yard games in a season.

He also added 43 yards on the ground and scored a TD.

Urbano matched a personal-high scoring twice while gaining 37 yards on eight carries. McIntosh caught a career-high four passes totaling 71 yards.

Chris Covington paced the defense with a game-high 12 tackles, including 3.0 for a loss. Quentin Taylor registered nine tackles. Walker turned in another solid all-around performance with eight tackles, 5.0 tackles for a loss, two sacks, two forced fumbles and one blocked kick. Walker now leads the Southern Conference with 7.0 sacks and 14.5 tackles for a loss.

The Eagles were able to win their second straight and third of their last four despite going 0-for-8 on third down conversions. The Eagles rolled up 350 yards of offense compared to The Citadel’s 497.

Blanchard threw for 358 yards, the fifth-best passing performance in Citadel history and 12th-most by a Georgia Southern opponent. He completed 27-of-48 passes and threw for three scores.

Roberts caught nine passes for 165 yards (fourth-highest total in Bulldog history) and Scott Flanagan recorded eight receptions totaling 105 yards. Asheton Jordan recorded 118 yards on the ground.

Defensively Terrence Reese and Kevin McCaskill had nine tackles apiece.

The Eagles travel back to Paulson Stadium next Saturday (Nov. 8) for the regular season home finale against Samford. Kickoff, which also highlights Homecoming Weekend festivities, is slated for 12 noon. The Citadel visits Wofford next Saturday at 3 p.m. in the SportSouth SoCon Saturday game of the week.

No. 21/18 Furman 28, Samford 27

Final Stats