Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Blue Hose News & Notes Entering Elon Game
SATURDAY'S GAME: The defending South Atlantic Conference champion Presbyterian Blue Hose enter their fourth game of the season and their third on the road against Elon coming off their second victory of the 2006 season ... Elon welcomes the Blue Hose to Rhodes Stadium for its second consecutive home game. The Phoenix lost their first game of the year last week to non-conference opponent Towson, 24-17. The loss came one week after an upset victory over then No. 25 Coastal Carolina in Conway, S.C. The Phoenix downed the Chanticleers 23-20.
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 37-21 overall record. Elon — Head coach Pete Lembo commenced his first year as the head man at Elon with the 23-20 win over Big South member Coastal Carolina. Lembo became Elon’s 19th head coach in December of 2005 after spending five years as the man in charge at Lehigh. The second youngest head coach in NCAA Division I football at only 36 years of age, Lembo spent eight years (three as an assistant) in total at Lehigh, seeing the Mountain Hawks reach a top-25 national ranking in all eight seasons. In his five seasons as head coach, Lembo guided the Patriot League school to an impressive 44-14 overall record and a 26-7 mark in the Patriot League, a league-high during the time span. Entering the tilt with Presbyterian, Lembo holds an overall record of 45-15.
GETTING IT DONE: Presbyterian has outscored its opponents 30-27 in 2006 thus far, but has only managed 17 points in its wins. Nevertheless, the Blue Hose have outscored their opposition 17-6 in the two wins, while also garnering one shutout.
PLAYERS TO WATCH: The Elon Phoenix are led offensively by first year signal-caller Wes Pope, who has started both Elon games in 2006 at quarterback. The junior has thrown for 375 yards (38-for-66) on the 2006 season, hurling one interception and two touchdowns. T.J. Clegg has been Elon’s top threat on the ground. Clegg has rushed for just a net of 50 yards this year, but has picked up one touchdown rushing to go along with his one touchdown caught. Michael Mayers has caught a team-high 16 receptions for 186 yards and one touchdown. Preseason All-America linebacker Chad Nkang has continued his prolificness in 2006, leading the team in tackles (22) and tackles-for-loss (3.5-11). The Blue Hose have been led all season offensively by preseason All-America selection Justin Durant, who in three games has corralled a team-high 11 catches for 140 yards and one touchdown. In the win over Fayetteville State, Durant caught his first touchdown of the season on Mitch Doolittle’s first touchdown pass of the 2006 season. Doolittle has shown he has the gusto to be the man behind center for the Blue Hose, passing for 275 yards on the season and for 63 more, including tallying one rushing touchdown in the CSU game. Adam McKinney has led the defensive output for the Blue Hose in 2006, ending the week with a team-high 21 total stops. Antwan Thomas, a preseason All-America selection, secured a season team-best 11 total tackles in the Fayetteville State victory.
STILL AMONG THE TOP: Presbyterian stayed ranked in all of the major NCAA Division II football polls. The Blue Hose remained out of the top 10 despite the win, but are ranked as high as No. 11 (Football Gazette).
FRESH: Elon’s Karlos Sullivan was named the Freshman-of-the-Week in the SoCon last week for his efforts in the Phoenix loss to Towson. The Upstate native (J.L. Mann) collected seven tackles in last week’s game, securing a career-high in the category, while also acquiring a career-best five solo stops.
ABOUT ELON: The Phoenix return 12 starters (7 offense, five defense) off last season’s team. It is a new era for Elon football though in 2006, as Pete Lembo has replaced former Elon mentor Paul Hamilton, who was 6-16 in his two years at Elon. Entering its fourth year of play in the SoCon on Sept. 30 against defending NCAA I-AA National Champion Appalachian State, Elon is looking to improve dramatically with the arrival of Lembo, as they have only posted three league wins since joining the conference in 2003 from the Big South. Having senior All-America linebacker Chad Nkang will not hurt the Phoenix’s chances, particurlarly as they change schemes definsivley to the 4-3. The top-rated linebacker in the country entering the season by The Sports Network, Nkang led all of Division I-AA with 13.82 tackles-per-game in 2005 on 152 total stops. The Hyattsville, Md. native was chosen as the SoCon Defensive Player-of-the-Year for his efforts.
STOP: Presbyterian sophomore defensive end Adam McKinney is tied for the South Atlantic Conference lead for overall stops in 2006, finshing the week with 21 cummulative tackles to tie with Newberry linebacker Will Newell for most in the SAC.
LAST WEEK: Presbyterian used Mitch Doolittle’s first touchdown throw of the 2006 season and a strong effort from its defensive unit to defeat Fayetteville State 7-6 before a crowd of 3,798 at Luther “Nick” Jeralds Stadium … Presbyterian waited until the first play of the final stanza to etch in its only points on the scoreboard and go ahead in the contest at 7-6 … On third and five from the six-yard line, Doolittle rolled to his right and found a diving Justin Durant in the top corner of the end zone to tie the game at 6-6. Carl Stevenson then successfully put the football through the uprights to give PC a 7-6 lead with 14:50 left in the contest … The touchdown pass from Doolittle was his first of the 2006 campaign and the catch corralled from Durant gave the preseason All-American selection his first touchdown reception of the year … Fayetteville State scored its only points of the game in the first quarter after almost 13 minutes of neither team being able to garner a significant drive in the first quarter … Fayetteville State pulled out some trickery to commandeer the game’s first points when the team twice faked a reverse in the backfield to set up the PC defense … Bronco starting quarterback Jay Autry then threw the football to Charlie Nieves for a 35-yard touchdown to put FSU ahead 6-0. Presbyterian’s special teams stepped up on the extra-point attempt, breaking through to block the kick and keep the game at 6-0 in favor of the Broncos … The play would prove pivotal, as Stevenson’s extra point would prove to be the game-winner ... Antwan Thomas led the way for the Blue Hose defensively in the contest, tallying 11 total tackles and an assist on a sack … Teammate Chad Burgess acquired nine tackles and one tackle-for-loss in the victory, while Adam McKinney finished with seven solo tackles and nine total stops ... Presbyterian is now 2-0 all-time against the Broncos after picking up a 35-6 win in the first game of the series in 2005.
IT IS VERY CLOSE: Presbyterian and Elon have met 41 times on the gridiron in their football history. Elon holds a slight advantage in the all-time series, going 21-18-2 against the Blue Hose. After not playing against one another from 1998-2004 the series resumed in 2005. Presbyterian last defeated Elon in 1996 (27-23) in what was Al Seagraves first year at Elon.
BLUE HOSE PLACE 10 ON PRESEASON ALL-SAC SQUADS: The Blue Hose commandeered five preseason first team All-South Atlantic Conference honors and 10 in total.Wide Receiver Justin Durant and fullback/tailback Corey Fidler made the preseason all-league squad on the offense, while strong safety Chad Burgess, linebacker Cheyenne Keener and linebacker Antwan Thomas were selected to the first team defense. Chris Pope made the second team offense as a wide receiver and was joined on the second team offense by Chetyuanne Reeder (running back) and Mitchell Anthony (offensive lineman). Justin Jones, who is starting the season as the weak side linebacker for the Blue Hose made the second team defense as a defensive back and Sean Foley was tabbed as the second team’s long snapper. The 10 all-conference student-athletes by PC were second only to Wingate’s 11.
400 AND COUNTING: PC’s football program, which began play in 1913, enters the 2005 campaign with 461 all-time wins. PC’s overall record stands at 461-415-35 (.526) over 91 seasons. After Presbyterian’s win over FSU, the Blue Hose’s record all-time is 463-416-35.
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.