Sept 22, 2001

Final Stats

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - Western Carolina used a dominant rushing attack, led by Fred Boateng, to pull away and hand homestanding East Tennessee State a 20-6 defeat at the Memorial Center Saturday night.

Boateng rushed for 186 yards, 142 in the second half, to become one of WCU's all-time leading rushers, passing Ken Morgan for 13th.

ETSU got on the board first with a 31-yard field goal by Con Chellis. The Bucs' drive was 14 plays and 65 yards. From that point on, the Catamount defense held ETSU to only 80 yards of total offense and 38 plays.

Western immediately responded with a 41-yard field goal by Shon Rowser. The redshirt freshman added a second field goal to give WCU a 6-3 lead at halftime, hitting a 40-yarder with only 10 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

Boateng and WCU's offensive line set the tone on the first possession of the second half. After Randy Thompson opened the third quarter returning the kickoff to the 20 yard line, Western marched 80 yards, using 5:25 on the clock, and took a 12-3 lead on an 11-yard Boateng rushing touchdown. Although Boateng had six rushes during the 11-play drive, it was Brain Gaither who kept the sticks moving by completing two key third-down passes. First, he hit Michael Banks for a 16 yards. Then, after scrabbling in the backfield, he found Lamont Seward for a 21-yard gain. While Western did not put additional points on the board in the third period, but it did dominate that 15-minute span, holding the ball for all but 2:02. Overall, WCU held a 13 minute advantage in time of possession in the contest. Western was able to control the clock by converting on 10 of its 16 third down situations.

ETSU took advantage of a Catamount turnover to cut the lead in half (12-6) on a Chellis 32-yard field goal. As they did in the first quarter, Western immediately responded. Boateng rushed eight times on WCU's 10-play scoring drive and accounted for 58 of the Cats' 65 yards. He capped the drive with a four-yard TD rush and added the two-point conversion.

The Catamount defense had several standout performances in holding ETSU to only 145 yards of total offense, the lowest total by a WCU SoCon opponent since Appalachian State managed just 139 yards in 1998. Seth Hanssen tallied 12 tackles, Pat Leach had nine stops with three pass break-ups and Michale Spicer logged two sacks, while Marquail Wells and Justin Fryer each added interceptions.

Western Carolina's victory was its first in Johnson City since in 1993.