Aug. 28, 2008

Final Stats |  Notes |   

Cullowhee, N.C. - Five different Catamounts reached the end zone - including three tallying their first scores as Catamounts - as Western Carolina opened the Dennis Wagner era with a 35-0 shutout victory over the Shorter College Hawks Thursday night at E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field.

The win snapped a seven-game losing skid which dates back to last season, while also extending Western's winning streak in home openers to 11-straight.

Wagner becomes the fifth WCU head coach all-time to be victorious in his inaugural game. The shutout victory, Western's first since blanking Chowan in the opener in 2006 (42-0), also marked the first-time that the Shorter College Hawks - in the fourth year of NAIA football competition - had been shutout.

"I'm really proud of our coaching staff, I'm really proud of our players," said a victorious Wagner during post-game comments. "It all goes back to them and to all the hard work the coaches put in every day to prepare the team, and to the team buying into what we're doing."

He added, "It's early. This is the first game of the year. By no means does this say where we're going or what we're doing. But it's certainly a step in the right direction, and that's what this football program has to do is start getting their chests back up and their heads back up and believing in themselves."

Senior quarterback Andy Horn - who was not only making just his second career start, but also his second-career appearance - completed a career-best 22-of-33 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns.

"Especially in the first half, the offense was rolling a little bit tonight," Horn said following his first victory as the starter. "The `O' line did a great job up front. There were a couple of plays where I was scanning from left to right, the whole field, and was able to hit that third or fourth guy."

Horn's counterparts also got into the mix under center with red-shirt sophomore Adam Hearns and red-shirt freshman Zack Jaynes each seeing a series apiece. Hearns, who found himself all over the field offensively Thursday night, tallied 34 yards on the ground and completed 5-of-6 passes for 34 yards and a scoring strike. Jaynes, in his collegiate debut finished 3-for-4 for 22 yards, having his lone time under center end on a failed fourth-and-long conversion attempt.

Two plays into its first offensive series of the year, Western Carolina found pay-dirt en route to the victory. Horn found red-shirt sophomore Marquel Pittman on a 56-yard strike down the far sideline to set up Hearns, seeing his first snap of the season lined up as a tailback, for the opening score. Hearns scampered off left tackle for a four-yard touchdown and the early, 7-0, lead.

Horn hooked up with Pittman from six yards out to extend the Catamount lead to 14 on their second possession as WCU officially drove 80 yards in 12 plays to go up two scores. In actuality, the offense moved 90 yards after suffering a 10-yard loss on the first play of the drive.

Western's most impressive drive of the game came late in the second quarter. Leading 14-0, the Catamounts were pinned back inside the shadow of their own goal posts after a holding penalty on a Hawk punt pushed WCU back to the four-yard line. However, 12 plays later, junior transfer Jayson Williams spun his way 24 yards into the end zone for the 21-0 advantage. Williams accounted for 44 yards on the drive.

Williams led all rushers with 90 yards on 14 carries and his first Catamount score.

WCU ended the first half capitalizing in the two-minute offense. Horn orchestrated an eight-play, 72-yard drive that encompassed a minute and a half to give the Catamounts a commanding four-score lead at intermission. On the drive, Horn was 6-for-9 with three pass completions to junior Kyle Garland, one to Pittman and two to senior Donald James, who hauled in a 14-yard TD reception. A converted defensive back two yeas ago, James' score was the first of his collegiate career.

Pittman led all receivers with 106 yards on six catches, while James pulled in a career-best nine passes for 61 yards and Garland caught five for 51 in the win.

Midway through the fourth, Western capped the game's scoring as red-shirt freshman Josh Cockrell corralled his first TD on a floating pass from Hearns to provide the final margin, 35-0.

Defensively, the Catamounts played well against their old nemesis - the triple-option. WCU limited Shorter to six first downs and just 142 yards of total offense including 109 on the ground and 33 through the air. WCU also forced two fumbles despite not coming up with a takeaway.

The Catamounts were led by junior Quintin Phillips with seven and a half tackles, including five solo stops, while juniors Antoine George and Chris Collins each finished with five and a half tackles apiece.

Western Carolina returns to action next Saturday, Sept. 6 as it visits Florida State at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla. The Catamounts have played the Seminoles twice before, falling 56-31 in 1981 and 50-10 in `85, both under legendary head coach Bob Waters.

The game will be broadcast on the Catamount Sports Network with an air time of 5:00 pm, with the kickoff at 6:00 pm. Fans can also follow the game live on a Pay-Per-view basis through SunSports / FSN Florida (check local listings for availability and channels).