Tuesday, October 24, 2006
News and Notes Entering Carson-Newman Game
Presbyterian-Carson-Newman Game Notes
TODAY’S GAME: Presbyterian continues its South Atlantic Conference title defense against Carson-Newman on Saturday. The Blue Hose are 5-3 (3-1 SAC) on the season after their 21-14 overtime victory last Saturday over Mars Hill at Meares Stadium, while the Eagles are 6-2 (2-2 SAC) on the season after defeating Lenoir-Rhyne 21-3 last Saturday at Burke-Tarr Stadium. The Blue Hose have not lost to the Eagles since the 2003 season. Presbyterian played one of the better games of its season last year against Carson-Newman, downing the Eagles 37-3 on Oct. 8, 2005 in Jefferson City, Tenn.
THE COACHES: Presbyterian — Head coach Tommy Spangler is in his 6th season in charge of the Presbyterian College Blue Hose football program. Spangler, the 13th head football coach in Blue Hose history, led PC to a 10-2 record and an unscathed 7-0 mark in the South Atlantic Conference last year, taking the SAC crown in the process. Spangler spent four years as PC’s assistant head coach and defensive coordinator before taking over as head coach. A 1983 graduate of the University of Georgia, he came to PC after spending five years as the defensive coordinator at Georgia Southern University. Spangler holds a 40-23 overall record. Carson-Newman — Head coach Ken Sparks is in his 27th season with the Carson-Newman College Eagles. A 1968 graduate of Carson-Newman, Sparks has led the Eagles to a 257-61-2 mark during his tenure, including a 9-3 mark, the SAC regular season title, and a return trip to the NCAA Playoffs in 2004. The Eagles concluded the 2005 season at 8-2 and in second place in the SAC. Overall in his 26 seasons with the Eagles, Sparks has won 18 SAC titles, earned 20 postseason appearances and acquired five national championships.
BACK IN THE SWING: The Blue Hose had not succumbed to a league opponent in quite some time after going unscathed last year in the SAC. Prior to its loss to Wingate on Oct. 7, Presbyterian had not fallen in a league game since the Indians of Newberry took the Bronze Derby 28-25 in the Blue Hose’s last contest of the 2004 campaign on Nov. 6, 2004. The Wingate loss snapped an eight-game league winning streak for the Blue Hose. The victory over Mars Hill last Saturday places PC on another South Atlantic Conference winning streak and leaves the Blue Hose 10-1 in their last 11 SAC contests.
FREE FOOTBALL: Prior to its overtime victory over Mars Hill last Saturday, Presbyterian had not played in an overtime contest since 1999, falling to Lenoir-Rhyne 24-21 in Hickory, N.C. The Blue Hose have not fallen to the Bears since, winning seven straight including this year’s 24-13 victory on Sept. 30 at Bailey Memorial Stadium.
HOSE HAPPENINGS: S.J. Worrell concluded the Mars Hill victory with a career-high 72 yards rushing ... Worrell enters the Carson-Newman game with a team-high 303 yards on the ground ... Chetyuane Reeder had 57 yards rushing and two touchdowns in the game with the Lions ... The Clinton High product has a team-high four touchdowns this season on the ground ... Justin Durant had just two catches in the victory over the Lions, but his second catch was pivotal as the 13-yard pass from Mullins proved to be the game-winnng touchdown in overtime ... Durant has tallied 521 yards through the air on 29 receptions in 2006 ... Quarterback Grayson Mullins played the whole contest for the second consecutive week against the Lions ... Mullins leads the Blue Hose in total offense, averaging 105.3 yards-per-game ... Bryson Summers had his best two games of the season in the wins over Tusculum and Mars Hill ... The Blue Hose punter had his best outing of the year in the win over the Lions last week, punting for an average of 43.5 on two kicks .... Derrell Doe had a team-high nine cumulative tackles in the Mars Hill game ... Kevin Molony secured the Blue Hose win over the Lions with his interception in overtime ... Molony is tied for the team lead in interceptions with Antoine Carter, with both defensive backs plucking three from the opposition this season ... Antwan Thomas has 58 total stops on the season to lead the team ... Thomas’ 58 takedowns are fifth most in the conference ... The Hawkinsville, Ga. native averages 7.2 per-game, which is sixth-best in the league ... Justin Jones had a team-high two sacks in the win over Mars Hill, which tied for the team season-high with Thomas and Adam McKinney.
PLAYERS TO WATCH: Jeremy Arrington has led the Eagles’ veer option attack this season with 289 yards gained on the ground. The preseason second team All-South Atlantic Conference selection has not been able to find the end zone though in 2005. Backup quarterback Alex Good, who has played in all eight games for C-N in 2006, has scored the most touchdowns on the team with four. Good has rushed for 254 yards and passed for 231 yards and three touchdowns. Starting quarterback Alex Rouse has thrown for 592 yards and six touchdowns this season, while also running for two more touchdowns. Carson-Newman’s linebacking duo of Brian Brown and Eric Rice is the strength of C-N’s defense. Brown is the team’s leading tackler with 55 total stops this season, while Rice, a preseason first team All-SAC selection, is second on the team in the department with 53, including a team-best 30 solo stops. Rice is also first on the squad in tackles-for-loss (13) and sacks (5). Punter David Brentz is second in the SAC in punt average with an average of 40.0 every time he punts the football. The preseason first team All-SAC choice has punted the football 34 times for 1,359 yards. The Blue Hose have been led all season offensively by preseason All-America selection Justin Durant, who in eight games has corralled a team-high 29 catches for 521 yards and five touchdowns. The junior preseason All-America selection did not have the best game of his career statistically in the win over the Lions, but he did catch the winning touchdown in overtime from Mullins. S.J. Worrell leads the Blue Hose attack on the ground this season, ending the Mars Hill contest with a team-best 303 yards rushing on 76 carries. The redshirt freshman has gotten better each game and had the best game of his career in the win over the Lions, racking up a career-high 72 yards. Defensively, linebacker Antwan Thomas is the leading tackler on the year for the Blue Hose. Thomas owns the team lead in stops with 58 on the 2006 campaign. Kevin Molony is tied for the team lead in interceptions with three after picking off Mars Hill’s Brandon Sims in overtime last Saturday to secure the victory for the Blue Hose. Derrell Doe had his best game of the year in the Mars Hill game, finishing the contest with a team-high nine takedowns.
REGIONALLY RANKED: Fresh off its 21-14 overtime victory over Mars Hill last Saturday, Presbyterian moved up three spots in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional rankings to No. 7. The NCAA Regional Ranking is a weekly poll of the top 12 teams in the four different regions in NCAA Division II football. The top six teams in the last region poll will participate in the NCAA Division II playoffs. However, earned access to the playoffs can be gained by a conference if a conference representative finishes in the top 10 of the final regional rankings. The 5-3 Blue Hose are one of four ranked South Atlantic Conference teams. Newberry (8-0) remains at No. 1 in the third NCAA Southeast Regional football rankings, while Wingate (6-2), second in last week’s poll, moved down two spots to fourth after its loss to Newberry last weekend. Carson-Newman (6-2), PC’s opponent this Saturday, is ranked 11th.
ABOUT CARSON-NEWMAN: The Eagles commenced the 2006 season with four straight wins before losing their first contest on Sep. 30 in week one of the South Atlantic Conference season to nationally-ranked Newberry, 32-18. Carson-Newman defeated Mars Hill 10-7 the next week before falling to league rival Catawba 24-22 on Oct. 14. C-N improved to 6-2 last week with a 21-3 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne at Burke-Tarr Stadium. The Eagles are ranked as high as No. 20 by D2football.com and are ranked No. 23 in the AFCA NCAA Division II Poll.
BROWN BAG: The Blue Hose lead the South Atlantic Conference in sacks with 21 on the season. Presbyterian has caused opposing offenses to lose 124 yards in 2006 via the sacks.
ABOVE THE FOLD: The Blue Hose commenced the Tusculum contest two games ago at 3-3 and in danger of falling under .500 with a loss. With the victory over the Pioneers, Presbyterian has not fallen below .500 in over two years. The last time they fell below the mark was in 2004 when they fell to 2-3 after a 19-14 loss to Catawba on Sept. 25, 2004. The Blue Hose managed to finish that particular season above .500 at 6-5 overall and 4-3 in league play.
CARSON-NEWMAN LAST WEEK: The Carson-Newman Eagles rolled up 284 yards of offense and defeated the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears, 21-3 in front of 3,187 fans at Burke-Tarr Stadium ... The Eagles held L-R to just 51 yards rushing on the day and Brandon Walden snuffed the first Bear drive of the game with an interception of a Justin Sanders pass ... Two possessions later, Alex Rouse capped a five-play, 67 yard drive with a three yard TD run to put C-N up 7-0 in the first quarter. Late in the second quarter, Alex Good completed a 12-yard pass to Reggie Hubbard and a 36-yard strike to Stephen Childs to put the Eagles at the LR six yard line ... On fourth and goal, Dwayne Mims busted through the line for a one-yard score to put the Eagles up by two touchdowns, 14-0 ... In the third quarter, Carson-Newman started its fourth drive of the second half at the Lenoir-Rhyne 29-yard line. Good rushed twice for 15 yards and Ricky Harris rushed for six yards to the six yard line to set up Good’s 10-yard TD pass to Otis Miller, capping a five-play, 29 yard drive to give the Eagles a 21-0 lead ... Linebacker Eric Rice led the Eagles with six tackles on the afternoon while Brian Brown and Brandon Walden had five tackles apiece for the Eagles. Brown had two tackles for loss and Eric Solomon sacked L-R’s Sanders for an eight-yard loss.
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE BLUE HOSE: Presbyterian’s Kevin Molony picked off Mars Hill quarterback Brandon Sims in overtime to secure a 21-14 victory for the Blue Hose before 2,109 at Meares Stadium on Saturday afternoon ... The score 14-14 entering the extra session, Presbyterian obtained the first possession of overtime and took full advantage as Justin Durant caught a 13-yard pass from Mullins to net the game-winner and go on top for good at 21-14 after Carl Stevenson’s successful extra point ... Grayson Mullins completed 50% of his passes in the victory, finishing the day 14-for-28 for 138 yards and one touchdown ... Chetyuane Reeder concluded the contest with two rushing touchdowns and 57 yards, while S.J. Worrell once again led the Blue Hose on the ground with a career-high 72 yards rushing ... Derrell Doe finished the contest with nine total stops to lead the Blue Hose defense, while Molony had four stops, two pass breakups and one pivotal interception. Mars Hill’s Nathaniel Smith had one of the better days of his career in the loss, ending the afternoon with 16 total tackles, including 10 of the solo variety ... The Blue Hose looked as if they would claim the victory in regulation ... The game 7-7 entering the final minutes of the second half, Presbyterian foiled a Mars Hill fake punt to acquire great field position at the Mars Hill 38-yard line. Seven plays later Chetyuane Reeder scored his second touchdown of the game with just over a minute left on the game clock to give PC a 14-7 lead ... Mars Hill would not relent and tied the game by marching 70 yards in 30 seconds when Sims found Tyrea Allen for a 37-yard touchdown to make the game 14-14. Presbyterian on the very next possession opted conservatively and Mullins kneeled down to send the game to overtime.
PC-C-N LAST YEAR: The 23rd-ranked Presbyterian College Blue Hose rattled off 20 points in the last 2:02 of the first half on their way to dealing the 11th-ranked Carson-Newman College Eagles a 37-3 loss at Leroy Shannon Field … The Blue Hose gained 168 yards on 44 carries on their way to three rushing touchdowns aided by five C-N turnovers … Freshman running back Chetyuane Reeder led the way with 94 yards on 17 totes for PC … The Blue Hose defense did not allow a touchdown, marking the first time the Eagles’ offense has been held out of the end zone since 1996 in a 19-3 loss to Catawba College … The loss was also C-N’s worst since dropping a 48-14 contest in 1994 to Division I-AA University of Montana … A 34-yard field goal by Brandon Mott accounted for the only Eagle scoring play of the afternoon … Mott’s kick tied the game at 3-3 with 14:02 to play in the first half, but it was all PC the rest of the way.
400 AND COUNTING: PC’s football program, which began play in 1913, entered the 2006 campaign with 461 all-time wins. After Presbyterian’s win over Mars Hill, PC’s record all-time is 466-418-35.
ON THE AIR: PC football can be heard on WPCC 1410 AM as Chris Burgin and Sandy Cruickshanks handle the play-by-play chores. PC football comes on the air 45 minutes prior to kickoff. On Thursday nights, the PC Football Show will air live from Gooney Bird’s in Laurens. Burgin and Coach Spangler will discuss football at all levels, while taking calls from fans and having special guests throughout the campaign.
BLUE HOSE FOOTBALL ON THE INTERNET: Presbyterian College football can be heard via the Internet again this season. To hear the broadcast, just to go http://www.presby.edu/bluehose and click on the GoLive Logo. The Texas Sports Radio Network and GoLiveSports.com are providing the internet broadcast this season.
TOMMY SPANGLER’S COACH’S SHOW ON INTERNET: Presbyterian College head football coach Tommy Spangler will have his weekly coach’s show available via the internet this season. Radio voice of the Blue Hose, Chris Burgin, will host the show each week. To download the show each week go to: http://www.presby.edu/bluehose/coaches_shows.html.