Furman 31, Wofford 14
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- P.J. Blazejowski set a Furman single game record by connecting on 15-of-15 pass attempts for 305 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Paladins to a 31-14 victory over Wofford in Southern Conference football action Saturday afternoon at Paladin Stadium.
The win snapped an eight-game losing streak by Furman (3-8, 2-4 SoCon) and marked the third victory in the last four games against Wofford (5-5, 3-3 SoCon), the Paladins’ oldest football rival.
Blazejowski, a true freshman who threw for 307 yards last week against The Citadel, became only the second quarterback in Furman history to post back-to-back 300-yard passing performances, first accomplished by Cleve Hightower in 1969. The 15 consecutive completions topped the previous game standard of 12 held by David Henderson (vs. Marshall, 1978) and Billy Napier (vs. Georgia Southern, 2001).
The St. Augustine, Fla., native’s two aerial strikes bracketed the game’s scoring. He connected with Jordan Snellings on a screen pass that went for 61 yards to give Furman a 7-0 lead, and wrapped up his day with a 59-yard hook-up with Andrej Suttles with just five minutes remaining.
Blazejowski’s connection with Snellings, which came on third-and-three play at the Furman 39, gave the Paladins the early advantage, and Jon Croft Hollingswoth’s 44-yard field goal made it 10-0 late in the first quarter.
Wofford responded with a pair of Lorenzo Long scoring plunges to take a 14-10 lead, the second of which was set up by a Terrance Morris sack of Blazejowski, whose fumble on the play was recovered by the Steven Cornellier at the Furman 22.
The Paladins’ took advantage of a Wofford fumble to regain the lead. Safety Nick Miller’s recovery at the Terrier 24 appeared headed for a wasted opportunity after two sacks and a penalty pushed Furman back to the Terrier 42, but on third-and-28 Blazejowski connected again with Snellings on a flanker screen for 32 yards and a first down at the Wofford 10. Three plays later Blazejowski took a sneak over the goal line to give Furman a 17-14 halftime advantage.
Blazejowski continued his solid work on the opening drive of the season half, directing the Paladins on a nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive. His 30-yard hook-up with Suttles on a third-and-two play from the Wofford 45, gave Furman a first down at the Terrier 15, and four straight runs by Hank McCloud covered the rest of the way to make it a 24-14.
Wofford’s bid to respond on its next two possessions ended with a fumble by quarterback Michael Weimer that was recovered by Brian Ross at the Furman 36 and with an incompletion on a fourth-and-seven pass at the Furman 38.
Following an exchange of punts, Furman put the game out of reach with its last pass of the game. Faced with third-and-eight from his own 41, Blazejowski rolled to his left and lofted a pass over the Wofford coverage to Suttles, who collected the ball along the sideline and outraced the defense to complete a 59-yard scoring play with 4:55 to go.
Furman finished the game with 381-300 advantage in total offense. The Paladin running game, which was limited to negative six yards in the first half, rebounded with an effective second half to finish with 76 yards, including 59 yards on 15 carries by McCloud.
Blazejowski’s prime passing targets were Snellings, who had four receptions for 118 yards and a score, and Suttles, who finished with three catches for 103 yards and a touchdown.
Wofford, which entered the contest ranked fifth in rushing in FCS, amassed 281 yards on the ground, including a game high 130 yards on 15 carries by Ray Smith. The Terriers, however, threw for only 19 yards, connecting on 2-of-8 passes.
Gary Wilkins paced Furman’s defense with a game high nine tackles, including four for-loss, two sacks, and a forced fumble.
Kevin Thomas and Terrance Morris had eight tackles apiece to lead Wofford, which posted four sacks in the contest.
Furman’s Nick Miller’s second quarter fumble recovery that set up the Paladins’ go-ahead touchdown was his third recovery in the last two games.
Blazejowski, who on Monday was named SoCon Freshman of the Week, has completed 35 of his last 44 pass attempts for 612 yards and five touchdowns (no interceptions) and accounted for seven touchdown responsibilities in the last two games.
Samford 20, The Citadel 17
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Samford sophomore running back Denzel Williams scored on a two-yard run with just 17 seconds left to give the Bulldog football team a 20-17 Southern Conference win at The Citadel Saturday afternoon at Johnson Hagood Stadium.
Williams’ score capped a nine-play, 72-yard game-winning drive that took a minute and 35 seconds. In the drive, Samford faced a 4th-and-10 from its own 43-yard line. Samford quarterback Michael Eubank hit Karel Hamilton for a 29-yard pass to The Citadel’s 28-yard line. Eubank then connected with Robert Clark for a 26-yard gain to the two-yard line, setting up the game-winning run by Williams.
With the win, Samford improves to 7-3 overall and 5-2 in Southern Conference play. The Citadel drops to 4-7 overall and 2-4 in SoCon games.
In the win for Samford, Eubank completed 18-of-28 passes for 228 yards and a touchdown. Hamilton caught five passes for 71 yards. Tony Philpot had four catches for 72 yards and a touchdown.
Williams rushed 19 times for 88 yards and a touchdown. Williams has now scored at least one rushing touchdown in all 10 of Samford’s games so far this season. Krondis Larry also had a rushing touchdown for Samford.
Defensively for Samford, Justin Cooper had a career-high 17 tackles, including 15 solo stops. Omari Williams finished with a career-high 13 tackles, 11 solo. On special teams, punter Greg Peranich averaged 43.0 yards on five punts.
For The Citadel, quarterback Aaron Miller rushed 20 times for 125 yards and two touchdowns. Miller completed 5-of-12 passes for 60 yards. Tyler Renew rushed 23 times for 102 yards for The Citadel. Walker Smith led The Citadel’s defense with 11 tackles, including eight solo stops.
The teams fought through a scoreless first quarter. Both teams missed field goals in the period, and both teams were stopped on 4th-and-short plays.
Samford broke the scoreless tie with a touchdown late in the second quarter. Eubank hit Philpot for a 31-yard touchdown with 3:39 left before halftime to give Samford a 7-0 lead. The score capped a six-play, 78-yard drive that lasted two minutes and 21 seconds.
The Citadel tied the score late in the third quarter. Miller scored on a two-yard run to make the score 7-7 with 1:21 left in the third quarter. The scoring drive was 14 plays, 91 yards and it took five minutes and 46 seconds off of the third-quarter clock.
The Citadel took the lead when Eric Goins kicked a 30-yard field goal to make the score 10-7 with 12:39 left in the fourth quarter. The kick capped a five-play, 55-yard drive that lasted two minutes an eight seconds.
Samford took the lead back when Larry scored on a 14-yard run with 8:39 to play. The extra point, however, was missed, keeping Samford’s lead at 13-10. The scoring drive was 10 plays, 75 yards and lasted four minutes.
The Citadel answered when Miller scored on a four-yard run with 1:57 left in the game to give the home team a 17-13 lead. Miller’s second rushing touchdown of the game capped a 14-play, 70-yard drive that lasted six minutes and 35 seconds.
As a team, Samford finished with 360 yards of total offense, while The Citadel had 419 total yards. The Citadel kept the ball for 37:42, compared to 22:18 for Samford.
Western Carolina 42, VMI 27
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - VMI redshirt freshman quarterback Al Cobb added more records to his outstanding debut season, but the Western Carolina Catamounts were able to hold off a second half VMI charge and downed the Keydets, 42-27 before 8,339 at E.J. Whitmire Stadium Saturday afternoon.
Cobb completed 19 of 45 passes for 321 yards and two touchdowns and became the VMI single season passing leader with 2,575 yards and also set a new mark for single season total offense with 2,673 yards.
The Keydets had no answer however, for WCU quarterback Troy Mitchell who completed 32 of 42 passes for 339 yards and tossed five touchdowns, four that came in the first half and helped the Catamounts build a pair of 21-point leads.
The Keydets (2-9, 1-5) rallied to twice pull within a score in the second half and moved the ball to the WCU 39-yard line trailing 35-27, but linebacker Christon Gill picked off a Cobb pass and returned it to the WCU 40 with 6:40 remaining. Two plays later, Mitchell scampered to the end zone on a 55-yard keeper around right end to repel VMI’s last serious threat of the game.
The Catamounts (7-4, 5-2) outgained VMI, 640-471 and converted 10 of 16 third downs while balancing their attack with 339 passing yards and 301 rushing yards. Four of Mitchell’s TD teamed with redshirt junior Karnorris Benson who finished with eight catches for 127 yards. Sophomore Terryon Robinson snagged 12 receptions for 127 yards to top the Catamount charts.
Two Catamounts backs produced 100-yard games as Darius Ramsey rushed for a game-high 128 yards on 19 carries and Mitchell contributed 109 yards and his decisive fourth-quarter score.
Sophomore Aaron Sanders led VMI receivers with four catches for 119 yards and a touchdown while junior Sam Patterson added five catches for 67 yards for the visitors.
The VMI offense surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark for the second straight game with 150 yards on the ground. Senior Deon Watts gained 60 yards on seven carries and scored a touchdown while Cobb added 45 yards on the ground.
Freshman linebacker Alan Cratsenburg led the Keydet defensive charts with 17 tackles including eight solo stops and outside linebacker Ryan Francis contributed 12 tackles including eight solos.
Western Carolina was led defensively by Gill who logged eight tackles to go along with his crucial fourth quarter interception that stemmed the Keydet momentum.
The Mitchell-Benson TD connection helped WCU race to a 21-0 advantage with 10:18 to go in the second quarter and the contest had the makings of a rout before VMI got on the board with a 4-play, 65-yard drive capped by a Watts 9-yard burst up the middle. Watts added a 27-yard rush earlier in the scoring possession and a 44-yard completion from Cobb to Sanders to the WCU 9 set up VMI’s first score of the game one play later.
The Catamounts countered to push their lead back to 28-7 when Mitchell flipped a 28-yard TD pass to a wide open Benson at the 4:53 mark of the second quarter, but VMI closed out the first-half scoring when sophomore Dillon Christopher knocked through a 45-yard field goal to cut the lead to 28-10 at halftime. It was Christopher’s third field goal from 40 or more yards this season.
The VMI offense found its rhythm in the second half and took the opening drive 89 yards in five plays and scored a 44-yard strike from Cobb to Sanders to cut WCU’s lead to 28-17. Christopher converted a 38-yarder at the 5:02 mark of the third quarter to pull the Keydets within 28-20 on a drive that featured eight rushes and only one pass completion.
WCU got some breathing room when Miller flipped a five-yard TD pass to tight end Tyler Sexton to extend the game to 35-20 as it headed into the final period.
VMI’s final push was keyed by a 10-play, 80-yard drive that ended with spectacular touchdown end zone catch by senior Doug Burton that was heavily challenged by WCU defenders. Christopher’s extra point followed to pull VMI within 35-27 with 12:32 remaining, but the Keydets could pull no closer to their Southern Conference rival.
Chattanooga 38, Tennessee Tech 17
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The ninth-ranked Chattanooga Mocs took an early lead and never looked back in a 38-17 win at Tennessee Tech this afternoon. Jacob Huesman picked apart the Golden Eagles defense, while Keionta Davis and his defensive mates terrorized their host’s offense.
It was a 14-10 game early in the second quarter when the Mocs spread the margin. Huesman engineered an eight-play, 60-yard touchdown drive that ended with a two-yard pass to Taharin Tyson on a bootleg right. Nick Pollard’s ensuing kickoff was a touchback setting the stage for Davis.
Darian Stone dropped back to pass for TTU, but Davis crushed him with a blind-side sack causing a fumble the sophomore from Chattanooga recovered. Three plays later, Huesman found Tommy Hudson in the end zone from nine yards out for a 28-10 lead.
Huesman accounted for all five Chattanooga touchdowns, including a career-high-tying four in the air. More impressively, he found four different receivers in the end zone.
Davis had two of the Mocs’ four sacks, including the turnover and a deflected pass. Senior Davis Tull and sophomore Nakevion Leslie shared a third quarter sack. That gave Tull the Southern Conference career record with 37, breaking the tie at 36.5 with App State’s Josh Jeffries.
The play of the game came early for the Mocs. Up 7-3 in the second quarter with the punt team on the field, Tyson took a direct snap and ran 24 yards across midfield for the first down. Six plays later, Huesman found Richardre Bagley for a 25-yard touchdown and a 14-3 lead.
The offense accounted for 457 yards in a very balanced attack. The squad threw for 234 and ran for another 223. Huesman led the ground attack with 89 yards on 19 carries and the first score of the game, a two-yard scamper off a fake handoff to Keon Williams. Williams accounted for another 76 on 22 attempts.
Huesman completed 21 of 27 passes for the 234 yards with the four touchdowns and an interception. He ties Steve Woods’ (1979-81) school record with his 21st win as a starting quarterback. He is 21-10 under center over the last three seasons.
Xavier Borishade had a career-high eight catches (40 yards) and a score. Bagley had a team-high 67 yards on three catches, including the touchdown reception.
Tennessee Tech managed 171 yards for the game, with 106 coming on two plays. On the other 43 snaps, the Golden Eagles had 1.5 yards per play for 65 total. Ladarius Vanlier led the way with 81 yards on seven carries. His 64-yard dart on a third-and-short play brought the score to 14-10 in the second quarter.
TTU quarterbacks Darien Stone and Jared Davis combined to complete just five passes in 15 attempts for 75 yards and an interception. Cody Matthews was the leading receiver, hauling in two passes for 50 yards. A Davis-to-Matthews 42-yard hookup setup the final score of the game, a one-yard quarterback sneak by Davis.
Cedric Nettles and Muhasibi Wakeel led the defense with six stops apiece. Tull and Leslie had five each, with Leslie making a fourth quarter interception.
Cory Webber had a game-high 17 tackles for the Golden Eagles as Austin Tallant added 12. Chattanooga ran 34 more plays (79-45) than their hosts and held a 20-minute advantage in time of possession (40:00-20:00).
Mercer 56, Warner University 0
MACON, GA. – The Mercer University football team finished its 2014 home slate in style with a 56-0 rout of Warner on Saturday afternoon at Anderson Field.
The Bears (6-5) tied a program record with 42 first half points to run away with the victory, while also recording their second shutout of the year.
Mercer outgained Warner 472-123, including a 308-65 margin in the opening two quarters. Among the FCS leaders in forced turnovers, the Bears picked up two interceptions and a fumble recovery in the contest.
Alex Lakes ran for 113 yards and a career-high four touchdowns to pace Mercer, becoming the program’s first 1,000-yard rusher with his one-yard score in the first quarter. Tee Mitchell added 90 yards on the ground for the Bears, who racked up 277 yards rushing. John Russ was an efficient 7-of-8 for 148 yards and two scores, eclipsing 2,000 yards passing on the season.