Nov. 20, 2004

Final Stats

Charleston, S.C. - The Citadel's defense posted its first shutout over a Southern Conference school since 1992 as the Bulldogs defeated Western Carolina, 17-0, in Southern Conference football action Saturday afternoon in Johnson Hagood Stadium.

Western looked to be in control early as linebacker Ricky Rainey intercepted a pass on the game's second play, goving WCu the ball on the Citadel 38. However, The Citadel got the ball back five plays later when James Wilson sacked Justin Clark, all the while causing and recovering a fumble. A defensive battle ensued with the Cats ending first half drives with a fumble, a punt, on downs, another punt and running out the clock before as the half ended. The Citadel was similarly frustrated on offense. After the interception, Western forced a punt, a short field goal and two additional punts.

The Citadel (3-7, 2-5 SoCon) scored the only points of the first half as Blake Vandiver nailed a 20-yard field goal with 37 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The kick capped off a 16 play, 84-yard drive that drained 7:38 off the clock.

The Bulldogs struck again on the first drive of the second half. With 7:48 remaining in the third quarter, wide receiver Rontreal Tyler hauled in a pass from quarterback Duran Lawson for a nine-yard scoring strike. The play capped off another big scoring drive for the Bulldogs that covered 66 yards on 10 plays and lasted 5:40.

The Citadel sealed the game late in the fourth quarter as they put together an 11-play drive that lasted 4:49 and covered 64 yards. The drive was finished off when wide receiver Gary Domanski took an end-around 10 yards for the score to push the score to 17-0.

Western Carolina (4-7, 2-5 SoCon) could not get the ball rolling offensively as they played three different quarterbacks and only managed 222 yards of total offense. The Catamount offense also suffered a blow in the second quarter when starting tailback Darius Fudge suffered a broken fibula. The Citadel rolled up 345 yards of total offense and dominated time of possession; 36:52 to 23:08.

"We didn't go out there and play with the same emotion that we had last week," Western Carolina coach Kent Briggs stated. "We just didn't get it done. Hats off to The Citadel, they did a suburb job. They did things that needed to be done to win this football game and we didn't."

Defensively for the Cats, James Conklin and Travis Hill led the way, each collecting eight tackles, while Mitchell Dukes collected seven stops.

The contest marked the conclusion of the 2004 season for Western and was the final contest in a Catamount uniform for 14 seniors, including WR T. Alford, DE Lamar Beam, DE Darvin Coffin, FB Scooter Dalton, LB Matt Davis, OT Adam Donaldson, DT Dwain Johnson, S O.J. Owens, DT Albert Reid, PK Shon Rowser, OG Morris Sanders, WR/CB Randy Thompson, C/OG Jarrett Wishon and equipment manager Vicki Randall.