Hasaan Sykes and Jeno Junius Jr. - Celebrate at Campbell

Catamount Athletics Creative Media

Football 9/27/2025 11:45:00 PM Daniel Hooker, Associate Athletics Director for Media Relations

Postgame Notes - at Campbell (9/27/25)

Postgame Notes
Western Carolina 42, Campbell 35
Barker-Lane Stadium / Ed Gore Field
Buies Creek, N.C. | Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025
Att: 4,060

With the Win:

The Catamounts earned back-to-back seasonal victories, while also representing WCU's first victory over a nonconference foe this season, improving to 1-3;
The Catamounts improve to 2-3 for the second-straight season;
WCU earned its first win in the head-to-head series with Campbell – a series that dates back to the 1930s, but Saturday's matchup was just the second of the modern era … It was WCU's first win in Buies Creek;
Catamount head football coach Kerwin Bell improved to 26-24 all-time as the head coach at Western Carolina and 119-66 all-time

Post-Game Notes:

Western Carolina's offense amassed its second-highest total yardage of the season with 564 yards at Campbell, including 488 passing yards and 76 rushing yards … It's the 24th time under Kerwin Bell that WCU's offense has eclipsed 500 yards of total offense over the last five seasons
The Catamounts also moved into SECOND nationally with an average of 350.6 passing yards per game, second only to Monmouth (419.2 yds/gm) – and into SEVENTH nationally with an average of 482.8 total yards per game … Both marks continue to LEAD the Southern Conference;
The Catamounts have scored 31 or more points in each of their games against NCAA FCS competition, eclipsing the 40-point mark for the third time through five total games … WCU improved to 15th nationally in scoring offense, averaging 35.6 points per game to lead the Southern Conference;
Redshirt sophomore QB Taron Dickens continued the torrid start to his 2025 season in his first road start of the year, totaling 427 passing yards and four touchdowns on 26-of-40 through the air
In just two games, Dickens has eclipsed 1,000 passing yards (1,009) while completing 70.9% (61-of-86) passes and 10 scores, improving to 5-1 as a starting QB for the Catamounts … As an INDIVIDUAL in two games, Dickens would rank 25th nationally in the NCAA FCS TEAM passing offense rankings, better than 100 other NCAA FCS teams including five teams from the SoCon (The Citadel, 460 yds; Wofford, 547 yds; Chattanooga; 764 yds; Mercer, 957 yds; and VMI, 980);
Dickens brOke a tie with former WCU QB David Rivers (2000) for the most 400+ yard passing games in a career at WCU with his fourth 400+ yard passing performance last Saturday at Campbell … Dickens is the third different WCU quarterback to hit the 427-yard mark in a single game – and the first since Rogan Wells had 427 yards against Gardner-Webb (9/5/21);
Dickens also climbed all the way into a tie for 10th in the program's career record book for touchdown passes with 23, matching Carlos Davis (2020-22) ... He's only three away from tying Chad Greene (26, 1991-95) for ninth all-time;
Dickens' four touchdown passes went to sophomore WR Marcus Striggles, redshirt sophomore RB Patrick Boyd Jr., redshirt senior TE Brayden Blackmon, and redshirt sophomore TE David Hulbert ... that quartet all picked up their first receiving scores of the season, giving WCU a combined 11 different receivers with a touchdown reception through five games;
Two Catamounts caught their first career receiving TDs at Campbell in RB Patrick Boyd Jr., and TE David Hulbert, coming on just his sixth career reception … Though it wasn't his first collegiate score, WR Marcus Striggles caught his first NCAA Division I TD pass on an athletic play at the back of the end zone … TE Brayden Blackmon caught his second career receiving TD, his first since 2021;
Redshirt sophomore WR James Tyre put together his first 100-yard receiving performance of his Catamount career, catching six passes for 101 yards ... the former prep QB also tossed a 61-yard passing score on a reverse where he connected with senior WR Painter Richards-Baker for the score to secure the 42-35 victory ... Tyre also had a pair of punt returns for 47 yards in the win, amassing 148 yards of offense;
Coming off a career-best three catches for 90 yards in the first on-field action of his career last week against Samford, freshman WR Michael Rossin added three catches for 88 yards, including a long of 53 yards on Saturday – his second-longest career reception;
Redshirt junior Camury Reid picked up right where he left off with his seventh total touchdown of the 2025 season on a one-yard rush to open Saturday's scoring at Campbell ... Reid now has four rushing and three receiving scores to pace all WCU skill position players … His four rushing TDs are tied for first in the SoCon, while his 42 total points and average of 8.4 points per game rank him tied for 25th nationally;
Redshirt sophomore LB Jordan Thompson matched his seasonal high with 11 tackles, including a season-best seven solo stops and a season-best 2.5 tackles for loss … the transfer defender also picked up his second sack of the season;
Sophomore CB Hasaan Sykes came up with his second career interception that directly led to WCU's first touchdown of the game … Sykes gave the Catamounts their sixth interception through the first five games of the season, tied for second in the SoCon and tied for fifth in the NCAA FCS, four off the national lead;
For the second week in a row, freshman Marcus Trout converted all six of his PAT attempts … Punter Stephen Brantley uncorked his third punt of 60+ yards with a 61-yard boot against Campbell … Brantley has a career-long 76-yard kick against Elon, and a 62-yard punt at Wake Forest to his credit this season.

Miscellaneous Notes:

Western Carolina's team captains for Saturday's game: Senior LB #1 Caleb Fisher; junior WR #4 Dominic Dutton; senior WR #8 Painter Richards-Baker; and senior DT #8 Jahleel Anderson.
Redshirt junior DE #10 Justin Wallace carried out the North Carolina flag, a tradition begun in the game following the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in 2024;
Campbell won the toss and deferred to the second half; the Catamounts received the opening kickoff to start the game, with Campbell defending the south endzone;
Western Carolina wore its purple helmets over white jerseys and gold pants for the eighth time under head coach Kerwin Bell – winning for the third-straight game to improve to 4-4 all-time … WCU is .500 or better in FIVE different uniform combos – White/White (8-6), White/Gold (4-4), Purple/White (4-4), Purple/Gold (4-4) and Purple/Purple (4-1).