Oct. 21, 2000

Box Score

CULLOWHEE, N.C. --- Western Carolina scored 38 first half points and quarterback David Rivers passed for 410 yards along with a pair of touchdowns to lead the Catamounts to a 41-36 victory over Chattanooga in Southern Conference football action on Saturday afternoon. Rivers became the first quarterback in school history to record two 400 yard passing games in his career, helping the Cats stop a three-game slide. He passed for 474 yards against Wofford last week.

WCU (3-5, 2-4) took the opening kickoff and drove 48 yards as Josh Jones kicked a 36-yard field goal to give Western Carolina a 3-0 lead. UTC (3-4, 1-3) answered with a six-play, 78-yard drive that culminated with a 55-yard touchdown strike from Chris Sanders to Ronnie Strickland to put the Mocs on top, 7-6. Sanders finished 34-of-55 passing with 488 yards, three touchdown passes and one rushing.

The Catamounts marched 75 yards on their ensuing possession to overtake Chattanooga, beginning a run of 21 unanswered points. Rivers scrambled from eight yards out into the end zone to lead 10-7 at the end of the first quarter.

Western forced the Mocs to punt on their next possession and immediately went to work on the Mocs' secondary. The Catamounts started at their own 12 yard line and marched down field for the score as Rivers connected with Lamont Seward on a 28-yard scoring reception. Seward tallied over 100 yard receiving for a second straight week as he finished with 132 yards on five catches.

The WCU defense then gave its offense a gift, the ball back. Ahmed Green intercepted the first pass of his career at the UTC 37 yard line and returned it 22 yards to the Mocs' 15 yard line. Four plays later, Walter Gary rumbled into the end zone from two yards out to give WCU a 24-7 lead.

Sanders' ended the Western scoring run with his second scoring pass of the afternoon to Strickland. Strickland caught eight passes for 170 yards.

The Cats pushed their lead back to 17 on their next possession as Rivers found a streaking Michael Banks down the sideline for a 81-yard score. Rivers completed 19-of-31 attempts on the day, while Banks set his career high in yards receiving for the second consecutive game with 164.

The two quarterbacks traded rushing touchdowns to end the half. The second half was dominated by defense. Western Carolina score on its first possession of the half, a 19-yard field goal by Jones, and didn't score again.

Following a safety and a Jason Bail touchdown run, UTC pulled within 11 at 41-30. The Mocs cut into to the lead even further as Cos DeMatteo caught Sanders' third touchdown pass of the day, this time from 10-yards out. Chattanooga was down five, 41-36, with five and one-half minutes to play.

The Mocs forced the Cats to turn the ball over and had possession with 3:28 remaining at their own 21. UTC drove down to the WCU six yard line and called timeout with 0:54 seconds to play. Sanders threw a pass into the back corner of the end zone intended for Richmond Flowers, instead Justin Fryer recorded his second interception of the afternoon preserving the Catamount victory.

The Catamounts travel to VMI next Saturday, Oct. 28, while Chattanooga hosts Appalachian State.