Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (21) View all

Western Carolinian Volume 70 Number 03

items 25 of 28 items
  • hl_westerncarolinian_vol70_no03_25.jpg
Item
?

Item’s are ‘child’ level descriptions to ‘parent’ objects, (e.g. one page of a whole book).

  • sect enmieenit Western shocks 2".ranked Furman 41 By Andy Gambill * WCnewsmagazine After a 31-10 butt-kicking last year at the hands of the Paladins, Catamount fans hopes for an upset were not very high this year. As the game ended, the fans were totally wrong on what to expect when the scoreboard read Western 41, Furman 21. The Catamounts shocked everybody by not only upsetting Furman but taking them to the whipping shed in the process. The Cats opened up their first drive with a 6-yard pass from junior quarterback Justin Clark to sophomore wide receiver Michael Hines. After a short run by Darius Fudge, Clark connected with senior fullback John Bush for a 13-yard gain to grab the first down and push the ball to the Western 42. A couple of plays later on 3% and 4, Clark found Hines once again this time for 5 yards and the first down. With 1* and 10 on the Paladin 34, the Cats handed the ball off to junior Darius Fudge for a 26-yard gain. Fudge then punched the ball in from 8-yards away on the next play to put the Cats up 6- 0 on the opening drive. Kicker Stephen Brown missed the extra point as he banged the ball off the uprights. With a 6-0 lead, the Cats kicked the ball off to Furman. On the first play of the drive, Ingle Martin showed why he used to be starting quarterback at the University of Florida by completing a 14-yard pass to Brian Stone. The drive eventually fizzled out, though, and ended with a missed 48-yard field goal attempt. The Cats gashed the Paladins for 14 yards on the first play of the drive as Justin Clark found back-up tailback Lamont Reid for a completion. A couple of plays later, while facing 3-and-fifteen, the Cats offense looked like it had stalled but Clarke came through by completing a pass to tailback Darius Fudge for 13 yards. On fourth-and-two the Catamounts came out in punt formation but faked the punt by snapping the ball straight to the dangerous Fudge. Fudge ran for a 38-yard gain on the play. So with 1* and goal on the Furman 9-yard line, the Cats put the ball back into the hands of Clarke who found J.C. Brown for a 6-yard gain. Lamont Reid bulled his way into the end-zone on the next play to put the Cats up 13-0 after a Brown extra point. With Furman on their heels, the Catamount defense came out looking to keep up the pace with the excellent offensive effort. They did just that as fan-favorite Bruce Lee picked off an Ingle Martin pass on third down. With everybody in the stadium knowing that if Western scored on their first three possessions it would be huge in springing an upset, the Paladin defense finally stepped up. Western was able to drive the ball down to the Furman 23-yard line but quarterback Justin Clarkes pass was picked off. After stopping the potent Catamount offense, the Paladins began the drive on their own 14-yard line. The drive didnt last long, though, as Martin was picked off again, this time by junior linebacker Shelton Gaffney. Neither team could do anything on the next three drives with punts on each drive. So with the ball back on their own 23-yard line the Paladins took the field again, but senior Andre Hemphill, a University of South Carolina-transfer, came away with an interception this time. A return of 8-yards put the ball on the Furman 30. With pressure mounting to extend their lead, the Cats offense took the field with a mission to add some extra cushion. But after two runs by Fudge and an incomplete pass by Clark brought the count up to 4th-and-five, sophomore kicker Stephen Brown booted a 43-yarder through the uprights with room to spare. Furman committed a personal foul on the play, and instead of taking the three points, the Catamounts took the first down. After two straight rushes, the Cats faced 3% and three and handed the ball off to Darius Fudge, but Fudge was nailed in the backfield and fumbled. After recovering the fumble, Furman took the field on their own 25- yard line. With 2:32 remaining in the first half, the Paladins decided to run -21, Climbs into Top 25 the two-minute offense and go straight to the pass. The Paladins could not garner a score, though, and ended up punting the ball to WCU. Western ran the rest of the clock out to go into half-time with a 13-0 lead. After a third quarter, which brought more Western domination in the order of two rushing touchdowns, a one-yard run by John Bush and a three- yard scamper by Lamont Reid, the Cats began the fourth and final. quarter up 27-0 and looking totally secure in pulling the upset victory. The Paladins finally showed life at the start of the fourth quarter, though, as they marched sixty yards down the field before finally scoring for the first time in the game on a six-yard pass from Martin to John Rust. Martin completed 6 of 8 passes for 52 of the 66 yards on the drive. With the score 27-7 and the Paladins showing signs of life, the Cats took the field with the goal of running down a lot of clock and hopefully scoring in the end. Neither of the goals were accomplished as the Cats went three and out before punting the ball back to the Paladins. The Paladins took over on their own 12-yard line but drove the ball quickly down the field for another touchdown. Martin went 4 of 6 on the drive for 44 yards and also ran for 9 yards. Daric Carter was the star of the drive, as he had runs of 15 yards and finally 20 yards to put the ball into the end zone. With the score now 27-14, the Paladins recovered an onside kick. But after three straight incompletions, the Paladin drive looked to be in trouble before the referees decided to bail them out by calling a 15-yard unsportsman- like conduct penalty on Western. On the next play, the D stuffed Carter for a 5-yard gain, but the referees called a questionable 19-yard personal foul on the Cats, thus giving the Paladins the ball on the Western 13-yard line. Ingle Martin finished the rest as he completed a pass to Justin Stepp for the touchdown. With the score 27-21 and the Paladins finally displaying why they were ranked 2" in the nation, the pressure was on the Cats to score. But the Cats had no such luck and ended up punting the ball away. So with 7:01 left in the game, the Paladins took the field on their own 20-yard line looking to push the ball down the field fora touchdown that would put them ahead. Senior Rico Reese should be named Superman because he single-handedly brought down the hopes of all the Paladin fans, coaches and players by intercepting a screen pass on first-and-ten. Reese reached up into the sky with his big right hand and batted the ball back to his left side where he cradled the ball into his arms for the interception. The big man rumbled eighteen yards down the field for the touchdown. With the score now 34-21, the Cats had re-established their cushion and their fans excitement. Ingle Martin. was picked off again on the very next drive, this time on the Western 38-yard line by Francis Brown. The Cats then ran the ball six straight times to take time off the clock before running a trick play by tossing the ball to back-up tailback Lamont Reid, who passed the ball 36 yards downfield to wide receiver J.C. Brown. John Bush ran the ball into the end-zone on the next play to make the score 41-21 and wrap up Furmans comeback hopes. When the clock finally ran out, the Catamount faithful rushed the field and took down the goal-posts. The victory pushed Western into the top 25 for the first time since 1994. The Catamounts were 24" in one poll and 14% in another. Catamount player Darius Fudge garnered SoCon Player of the Week honors after finishing the game with 13 carries for 137 yards rushing and a touchdown. With the victory, the Cats improved to 2-0 on the season and have now established their candidacy for a SoCon Championship. This could be a season that is definitely worth watching. WCnewsmagazine hy A hs
Object
?

Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).