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Donnavan Spencer is stopped by ETSU's Max Evans
Dakota Hamilton / ETSU Athletics

Football

Postgame Notes - at ETSU

Postgame Notes – at ETSU
ETSU 24, Western Carolina 17
Greene Stadium
Johnson City, Tenn. | March 27, 2021
Att: 2,442
 
With Saturday's result…
  • With the loss, Western Carolina was relegated to a 1-8 record on the year, its slowest start since going 1-10 back in 2012 – the first season under head coach Mark Speir;
  • Handed WCU a 1-5 start to Southern Conference play and guaranteed a sub-.500 finish to league play;
  • Represented WCU's eighth-straight road loss dating back to 2019 – and its third-straight away from home against ETSU in the all-time series;
  • ETSU reclaimed "the Rock," the traveling trophy in the "Blue Ridge Border Battle" … the all-time series between WCU and ETSU now stands at 25-24-1 in favor of the Catamounts and each of the last three series meetings have been decided in one-possession games.
 
Postgame Notes:
  • Senior RB Donnavan Spencer rushed for 40 yards in the road loss giving him 2,079 career rushing yards … he moved into sole possession of 12th-place in the WCU record books, by-passing Melvin Dorsey (1981-83) and Anthony James (1979-82) who both had 2,060 career rushing yards … Spencer is 131 rushing yard shy of 11th-place Leonard Williams (2,210 yards from 1979-83);
  • Transfer receiver Raekwon Heath hauled in his first receiving touchdown for the Purple & Gold on a 21-yard strike from QB Ryan Glover on the game's opening drive … Heath finished with three receptions for 55 yards giving him 12 catches for 152 yards this spring;
  • Sophomore transfer QB Carlos Davis completed his first pass as a Catamount, tossing a 44-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open TE Clayton Bardall early in the second quarter to stake the Catamounts to a 10-point, 17-7 lead over ETSU … Davis lined up as a wide-out and took an end-around pitch where he tossed the scoring strike to Bardall who leaked out into the secondary for the TD;
  • Freshman WR Dylan Abernethy hauled in a career-best three passes for a career-high 25 receiving yards … Abernethy also recovered a fumble in special teams on a muffed ETSU punt;
  • WCU scored on its opening drive of the game for the fourth time this spring – each coming on an opening-drive touchdown … Ryan Glover orchestrated the 75-yard drive in seven plays, capping it with the TD strike to Raekwon Heath … WCU has scored points on four of its nine opening drives this season with four punts and one missed field goal;
  • Redshirt sophomore PK Richard McCollum matched his career-long with a 45-yard field goal at ETSU … His previous career-long of 45 was nailed earlier this season at Samford in a 2-for-2 performance … McCollum has three made field goals this spring;
  • Western Carolina's offense tallied 230 yards in the first half including 195 yards passing and 35 yards on the ground … In the driving rain in the second half, the Catamounts were limited to 48 total yards of offense including 28 yards (22 rushing, 6 passing) in the third quarter and 20 yards (11 passing, nine rushing) in the fourth quarter; 
  • Senior LB Ty Harris was credited with a game-high nine tackles including three solo stops and 2.5 tackles for loss … the nine tackles halted his string of five-straight, double-digit tackle games while the 2.5 TFLs matched his season-high;
  • Harris eclipsed the 300-career tackle threshold at ETSU sitting with 301 career stops, five shy of 13th-place Steve Yates (1971-74) who recorded 306 career tackles … Harris is just 13 tackles shy of 10th-place in the Catamount record books held by Everett Spellman (1984-87) with 314 tackles.
 
Miscellaneous Notes:
  • Saturday's pregame featured heavy storms including torrential rain and hail that delayed the start of the game … Pregame festivities were canceled and halftime was shortened due to the impending threat of additional inclement weather through eastern Tennessee;
  • WCU's captain for the game was senior TE #84 Owen Cosenke, a native of Aldie, Va. … Western Carolina won the coin toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff.
 
 
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Players Mentioned

Clayton Bardall

#86 Clayton Bardall

TE
6' 3"
Redshirt Sophomore
Owen Cosenke

#84 Owen Cosenke

TE
6' 3"
Senior
Ty Harris

#37 Ty Harris

LB
6' 1"
Senior
Richard McCollum

#89 Richard McCollum

K
5' 9"
Redshirt Sophomore
Donnavan Spencer

#20 Donnavan Spencer

RB
5' 10"
Redshirt Senior
Raekwon Heath

#19 Raekwon Heath

WR
6' 2"
Redshirt Junior
Dylan Abernethy

#87 Dylan Abernethy

WR
6' 0"
Freshman
Ryan Glover

#7 Ryan Glover

QB
6' 2"
Graduate Student
Carlos Davis

#11 Carlos Davis

QB
6' 3"
Redshirt Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Clayton Bardall

#86 Clayton Bardall

6' 3"
Redshirt Sophomore
TE
Owen Cosenke

#84 Owen Cosenke

6' 3"
Senior
TE
Ty Harris

#37 Ty Harris

6' 1"
Senior
LB
Richard McCollum

#89 Richard McCollum

5' 9"
Redshirt Sophomore
K
Donnavan Spencer

#20 Donnavan Spencer

5' 10"
Redshirt Senior
RB
Raekwon Heath

#19 Raekwon Heath

6' 2"
Redshirt Junior
WR
Dylan Abernethy

#87 Dylan Abernethy

6' 0"
Freshman
WR
Ryan Glover

#7 Ryan Glover

6' 2"
Graduate Student
QB
Carlos Davis

#11 Carlos Davis

6' 3"
Redshirt Sophomore
QB