Sept. 11, 2011
Recap |
Final Stats |
Quotes |
Post-Game Notes
Western Carolina 52, Mars Hill 31
E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field
Cullowhee, N.C.
Sat., Sept. 10, 2011
With the win ...
- Western Carolina snapped a seven-game losing skid that dated back to early October of 2010 ... It was the Catamounts first victory since Oct. 2, 2010 at The Citadel;
- Halted the Catamounts seven-game home winless drought, earning WCU its first home victory since Oct. 17, 2009 (vs. The Citadel) ... It was also ended WCU's three-year absence from the win column in the home opener, marking the first win in a home-opener since 2008 - a 35-0 shutout of Shorter College in head coach Dennis Wagner's debut;
- WCU has now won 13-straight over Mars Hill, improving to 67-67-5 all-time versus current members of the South Atlantic Conference ... WCU is now 13-5-1 all-time against Mars Hill.
Post-Game Notes:
- Western Carolina's 45 points scored in the first half is a school record, surpassing the previous points in a half benchmark of 43 set back in 2004 in a home win over West Virginia State (W, 77-7) ... WCU has scored 20-or-more points in three quarters to date this season, tallying 21 in the second quarter in the season-opener at Georgia Tech and lighting the scoreboard for 21 and 24 in the first and second quarters on Saturday;
- Western Carolina recorded only seven rushing touchdowns during the 2010 season ... Including five rushing scores Saturday against Mars Hill, the Catamounts have already matched that total when adding the two rushing scores in the season-opener at Georgia Tech;
- Western Carolina freshman running back Shaun Warren rushed for a career-best 203 yards on 21 carries - averaging 9.7 yards per rush - in the home victory over Mars Hill ... He became the eighth different Catamount to record 200-or-more yards rushing in a single-game with his performance and it was the 11th-different time in school-history that a WCU running back had 200-or-more yards on the ground;
- Warren is the fifth different first-year player to record a 200-yard rushing effort for the Catamounts, the first since Quan Warley - then a redshirt freshman - toted the ball for 202 yards in a road win over Presbyterian ... Warren joins Darryl Jackson (200 yards vs. Mars Hill in 1987), Darius Hooks (203 yards vs. Wofford in 1996) and Fred Boateng (vs. Georgia Southern in 2000), all of which reached the 200-yard rushing plateau as TRUE freshmen;
- In addition to Warren, junior tailback Michael Vaughn rushed for a career-best 104 yards, earning positive yards on each of his 19 carries ... It was the first-time since November of 1996 that two Catamount running backs had eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark in the same game - Tracy Biggs (150 yards) and Terrence Stokes (139 yards) held the most-recent mark against Appalachian State (11/16/96);
- Warren matched two school-records during Saturday night's home victory over Mars Hill ... the China Grove, N.C., native's three first half rushing touchdowns matched a mark held by seven other Catamounts but that had not been accomplished since Anthony James rushed for three TDs in a half against Marshall in 1981 ... Warren also set a school benchmark with four rushing scores in the game, matching David Mayfield (vs. ETSU, 1986) and Brad Hoover (vs. VMI, 1998);
- Seven different WCU receivers hauled in passes with Deja Alexander catching seven including one touchdown ... Jacoby Mitchell scored on a 75-yard, pass-and-catch from Brandon Pechloff, the longest hook-up for the duo in their careers;
- Brandon Pechloff set a career-best with 322 yards passing in the win over Mars Hill while matching his career-best with a pair of touchdown passes to Deja Alexander and Jacoby Mitchell.
- With the rushing performances of Shaun Warren (203) and Michal Vaughn (104) couipled with Jacoby Mitchell's 105 yards receiving, it marks the first time since 2008 that the Catamounts had a 100-yard rusher and 100-yard receiver in the same game (Quan Warley, 202 yds rushing and Marquel Pittman, 106 yds receiving at Presbyterian - Sept. 20, 2008);
Miscellaneous Notes:
- Team captains for Thursday night's game were five Catamount seniors #14 Josh Cockrell; #34 Ricky Schwarz; #48 Blake Cain; #85 Andrew Rogers; and #98 Trey Selby ... Western Carolina received the opening kickoff;
- Western Carolina Chancellor Dr. David Belcher, Student Government Association President T.J. Eaves and members of this year's freshman class - the Class of 2015 - participated in a pregame run through the tunnel prior to the Catamounts taking the field;
- Also, WCU junior defensive lineman #45 Nick Woodard - a veteran of the United States Army who served a 15-month tour in Iraq - led the team onto the field wielding a large American Flag in remembrance of the 10th anniversary of September 11.
