Oct. 21, 2006

Final Stats

Charleston, S.C. - Despite making a field goal in overtime, Western Carolina was not able to keep The Citadel out of the endzone as the homestanding Bulldogs pulled out a 30-27 win Saturday afternoon at Johnson Hagood Stadium. The Catamounts lost in overtime for the second consecutive weekend and are now 1-5 in such contests all time.

Like last week, senior running back Darius Fudge turned in an outstanding performance, gaining 129 yards on just 15 carries. The Riverdale, Ga., product averaged 8.6 yards per carry on the day, thanks to a 36-yard run and a 50-yard touchdown carry. Fudge now only needs 117 yards to enter the WCU all-time top 10 for rushing yards.

Also, unfortunately like last week in an overtime loss to Chattanooga, the opposing team's back had a big day as well. Tory Cooper rushed 36 times for 200 yards with two touchdowns, including an eight yarder to win the game in overtime. Thanks to Cooper, the Bulldogs gained 292 yards rushing and rolled up 466 yards of total offense, compared to 241 yards of total offense by the Catamounts.

Western struck first. After a season-long 53-yard punt by Tim Mayse, Citadel was backed up on its own 20. On the Bulldogs first play after the WCU punt, John Martin tipped a pass at the line of scrimmage, which was corralled by freshman linebacker Kadeem Morgan. Three plays later, Bennett Swygert connected with Michael Hines, who stretched across the goal line for a nine-yard score.

The Catamount defense came up big late in the first quarter to keep the score 7-0. Facing first and goal from the WCU three, the Catamounts kept the Bulldogs out of the endzone and Blake Vandiver's 20-yard field goal sailed wide left. On the ensuing drive, Western was forced to go three-and-out. However, the WCU defense would come up big again two plays into the Citadel's drive as freshman Angelo Brown picked off his first career pass and returned the ball 45 yards to give the Cats a 14-0 cushion.

The Citadel responded with a 17-play, 77-yard drive which consumed nearly nine minutes on the clock. Again, like last week, WCU was victimized on a fake punt on fourth down, leading to a touchdown. Nuru Goodrum finished off the drive with a two-yard TD.

Western answered right back with a scoring drive of its own as the first half came to a close. Swygert, who was 12-of-21 for 101 yards on the day, completed 5-of-6 passes early in the drive, including 13-yarders to Eddie Cohen and J.C. Brown. Jonathan Parsons would push WCU's advantage to 10, 17-7, by making a 34-yard field goal with just 26 ticks remaining before the break.

The Catamounts' first drive of the second half ended in a punt. From that point, and thanks to a 22-yard run by Cooper, Bulldog quarterback Duran Lawson began to establish himself, throwing an apparent TD only to be negated by Citadel penalty. The Bulldogs would be forced to settle for a 29-yard Vandiver field goal, making the score 17-10.

WCU looked to answer right back, thanks to a 36-yard run by Fudge putting the Cats down to the Citadel 26. However, Western would get out of field goal range after a reverse went for a 13-yard loss and a pair of incomplete passes. Despite being pinned on its own 15 after a Stephen Brown pooch punt, Cooper and Lawson teamed up during a 15-play, 85-yard scoring drive which tied the game at 17-17 and took 7:24 off the clock. Cooper rushed seven times for 27 yards, including a two-yard TD, while Lawson had three rushes for 21 yards and completed 4-of-5 passes.

On the ensuing drive and with Swygert sidelined after he re-injured his ankle for the second consecutive week, Western's backup quarterback Todd Spitzer converted a key third down, hitting Cohen for a 17-yard gain. On the next play, Fudge broke through the left side of the WCU line untouched and out-ran the Bulldog defense for a 50-yard TD.

However, the Bulldogs bounced right back, getting to the WCU 20 yard line on just two plays due to a 20-yard run from Cooper and a 27-yard pass from Lawson to Gary Domaski. Five plays later, Lawson made a spectacular play allowing the Bulldogs to tie the game at 24-24. Lawson was nearly sacked by WCU sophomore Jeff Bradley only to stay on his feet and thread the needle to hit Rontreal Tyler for an 11-yard touchdown.

The teams traded punt then the Cats could not get into scoring position on its final drive, only having 49 seconds left.

In overtime, the Bulldogs won the toss an elected to play defense first. Western gained eight yards on a Spitzer to Hines pass, but did not convert on third down, setting up Parsons' 35-yard field goal which gave Western a 27-24 lead in overtime. The Bulldogs then had their chance and, as they had done most of the day, relied on Cooper. He had a three-yard run, two seven-yard runs and the game-winning eight yard run.

For the Catamounts, senior linebacker Shelton Gaffney tallied a career-high 13 tackles, while Morgan had a season-high 11 stops. Hines, for the third time this season, hauled in a career-high eight passes.

Western Carolina will play the second of its three-game road swing next weekend, facing Wofford. Kickoff in Spartanburg, S.C., is set for 1:30 pm.