Tuesday, September 5, 2006
Blue Hose News & Notes Entering Fayetteville State Game
FSU GAME: The defending South Atlantic Conference champion Presbyterian Blue Hose enter their third game of the season and their second on the road against Fayetteville State coming off their first loss of the 2006 season ... The Broncos of Fayetteville State welcome PC for their first home game of the season and are coming off their first win of the year, a 25-12 win over league rival Virginia Union ... In their first meeting ever last season Presbyterian defeated FSU 35-6 at Bailey Memorial Stadium.
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 36-21 overall record. Charleston Southern — Head coach Kenny Phillips enters his seventh season with the Broncos in their game with Presbyterian. Phillips has led the Broncos to a 41-25 record in his six years, including a 6-4 mark in the 2005 campaign. Fayetteville State has commandeered 32 victories over the last four seasons.
PLAYERS TO WATCH: The Broncos’ offensive efforts are led by junior signal caller Jonathan Autry, who ended his efforts in 2005 with 2,393 yards through the air. The first team All-CIAA member also threw for a league-high 23 touchdowns. Amir Holding only finished the 2005 season with a team second-best 300 rushing yards, but he was effective in the Broncos’ win over Virginia Union, scoring three touchdowns, including two in the final quarter to solidify FSU’s inaugural win of 2006. Defensively senior defensive back Anthony Hicks leads the Broncos. A Preseason All-America selection, Hicks finished last year with 86 total tackles (56 solo). Sophomore Donte’ Wise, the CIAA Rookie-of-the-Year in 2005, gives the Broncos a solid one-two punch. The Blue Hose were led offensively last week by Justin Durant, who finished the contest with 92 yards receiving. Corey Fidler continued to score touchdowns for the Blue Hose, scoring his second touchdown of the season in the loss to CSU. Durant, who corralled 59 passes last year, is a preseason All-SAC selection. Fidler, a fullback/tailback, led PC on the ground last year with 664 yards and six touchdowns. With two official starts now under his belt, quarterback Mitch Doolittle has shown he has the gusto to be the man behind center for the Blue Hose. Doolittle led the charge offensively for PC in its win over the Wolves, finishing the contest with a team-best 52 yards on the ground that coupled with his 67 yards through the air left him with a team-high 119 all-purpose yards. Doolittle threw for a career-high 186 yards in the game with the Bucs’, scoring his first touchdown of the year on an 11-yard scamper in the first half. Defensively, the Blue Hose will be led by consensus preseason All-America selection Chad Burgess, who led the squad with three interceptions to couple with his 79 total stops. Preseason All-American Antwan Thomas returns this year to man the middle (MIKE) linebacker spot, coming off a 2005 campaign that saw him earn All-SAC honors after ending the season with a league second-best and team-high 100 total tackles. Sherman Burnett and Anthony McKnight led the Blue Hose defense in the CSU game, finishing with eight tackles each.
STILL AMONG THE TOP: Presbyterian stayed ranked in all of the major NCAA Division II football polls despite the loss to Division I-AA Charleston Southern. The Blue Hose fell out of the top 10 with their first loss of the season, but are ranked as high as No. 11 (Football Gazette).
ABOUT FAYETTEVILLE STATE: The Broncos return 17 starters (six offense; nine defense; 2 special teams) off last year’s CIAA Western Division champion squad. Seventh-year head coach Kenny Phillips leads a Bronco team that was chosen by the majority of pundits in the preseason to finish first in the Western Division of the CIAA once again in 2006. Jonathan Autry was chosen as the CIAA’s preseason first team quarterback and was joined on the first team offense by offensive tackle Brandon Daughtry. Anthony Hicks was chosen to the first team as well.
LAST WEEK: Charleston Southern (1-0) scored a touchdown on its first two possessions of the game and never looked back as they held off Presbyterian’s advances to defeat the Blue Hose 21-13 on Saturday afternoon before 4,278 fans at Bailey Memorial Stadium … The Buccaneer victory marks only the second time in the 14-game series history that Charleston Southern had commandeered a victory over the Blue Hose. Prior to its win on Saturday, Charleston Southern had fallen in 12 consecutive meetings … The game was set at 14-13 for almost two quarters before the Bucs went ahead 21-13 in the final minutes of the fourth stanza on a Josh Mitchell 59-yard interception return. The interception was caused by a stirring hit by Charleston Southern’s Okeba Rollinson on S.J. Worrell that caromed off Worrell and landed in Mitchell’s grasp … Presbyterian had its chances in the contest. The Blue Hose actually had an opportunity to go ahead in the fourth quarter as Bret DiTullio missed a 21-yard field goal with 5:33 left in the game … The Blue Hose were able to force CSU into a three-and-out situation the very next series, garnering an opportunity to once again go ahead, but Rollinson and Mitchell debunked the Blue Hose’s advances … Still within reach with a two-point conversion in the final seconds of the game, Mitch Doolittle’s pass to Justin Durant from the CSU 58-yard line with two seconds left fell incomplete to Justin Durant and the Buccaneers escaped with the eight-point win … Presbyterian (1-1) finished the CSU game with 170 more all-purpose yards than Charleston Southern. The Blue Hose rushed (172) and threw (208) for more cumulative yards as a team than the Bucs in the contest … Preseason All-America selection Justin Durant had a team and season-high 92 yards receiving to lead the Blue Hose offensively … Chetyuanne Reeder led the Blue Hose individually on the ground, finishing with 49 net yards on 10 carries. Corey Fidler, who finished just behind Reeder with 41 yards, found the end zone for the second week in a row on a one-yard run in the first quarter … Starting quarterback Mitch Doolittle had more yards in the air in the Charleston Southern contest than the West Georgia victory with 186 yards compared to 67, but was still unable to throw for his first touchdown of the 2006 campaign. The Ninety-Six product did score the Blue Hose’s other touchdown, eluding CSU pressure in the second quarter to dive into the end zone for an 11-yard PC touchdown that made the game 14-13 … On the defensive side of the football Presbyterian was led by Anthony McKnight and Sherman Burnett, who both ended the game with eight tackles each. Derrell Doe also had an interception in the game … In the end, the difference may have been in the red zone where the Bucs were 2-for-2 and the Blue Hose ended the day 2-for-4.