Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Blue Hose News & Notes Entering Lenoir-Rhyne Game
SATURDAY’S GAME: Presbyterian opens up its South Atlantic Conference title defense against Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday. The game will be the second home game of the year for the Blue Hose. Presbyterian has owned the Bears of late, entering the game owning a six-game winning streak in the series after shutting out the Bears 20-0 last season at Moretz Stadium. The Blue Hose come into the tilt on two weeks rest after having its bye week last week, while Lenoir-Rhyne ruined Benedict’s stadium-opening weekend on Sept. 23 with a 17-0 shutout victory.
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 37-22 overall record. Lenoir-Rhyne — Head coach Wayne Hicks is in his fifh season at the helm of the Lenoir-Rhyne football program. A 1984 graduate of Jacksonville State, Hicks has led the Bears to a 16-30 mark during his tenure including a 5-5 mark in 2005. For the second straight season the Bears enter the PC game with a .500 record. Hicks is 0-4 against the Blue Hose.
IT HAS BEEN A WHILE: The Blue Hose have not succumbed to a league opponent in quite some time after going unscathed last year in the SAC. Presbyterian has 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.
HOSE HAPPENINGS: In his first intercollegiate start, sophomore Grayson Mullins ended the day with 131 yards passing and 14 yards rushing ... Mitch Doolittle, who started the first three games of the 2006 campaign for the Blue Hose as the signal caller, threw for 53 yards after spelling Mullins in the fourth quarter ... Presbyterian, who enters the L-R game at 2-2, has not fallen below .500 since 2004 when they fell to 2-3 after a 19-4 loss to Catawba on Sept. 25, 2004 ... S.J. Worrell leads the Blue Hose in rushing with 128 yards gained on the season ... The redshirt freshman has yet to obtain his first touchdown of his intercollegiate career despite this fact ... Adam McKinney’s 27 tackles were good for a tie for third place in the SAC in total tackles after PC’s last contest.
PLAYERS TO WATCH: Benjamin McDowell leads the way defensively for the Bears. The preseason All-American finished the 2005 season with a team-best 19 tackles-for-loss and eight sacks. The defensive lineman has already acquired five tackles-for-loss in 2006. Rian Jefferson, a second-team preseason All-SAC selection, leads the Bears with 22 tackles on the year. The defensive back concluded the win over Benedict with a team-high seven tackles. Upstate native Andrew Coln (Mauldin, S.C.) has returned to his 2004 form this season. The 2004 All-SAC first team member has gone 3-for-4 on field goals in 2006 thus far and has hit two field goals from beyond the 40-yard line. Coln nailed a 42-yarder in the win over the Tigers last Saturday. The Blue Hose have been led all season offensively by preseason All-America selection Justin Durant, who in four games has corralled a team-high 15 catches for 211 yards and one touchdown. S.J. Worrell leads the Blue Hose in rushing in 2006, ending the Elon contest with 128 yards on the ground in the 2006 season. Teammate Corey Fidler is not too far behind in the category, going into the game with L-R with 122 yards garnered on the ground. Fidler has scored two rushing touchdowns this season and has caught 10 passes for 105 yards. Defensively, Adam McKinney continues to lead the way for the Blue Hose. McKinney has a team-best 27 cumulative stops on the year. Preseason All-America selection Antwan Thomas has a team-high 2.5 sacks on the season to go along with 26 total stops. Chad Burgess, a consensus Preseason All-America choice, has 25 total takedowns this season and has broken up a team second-best three passes.
STILL IN TOP 20: Presbyterian is still ranked among the best in NCAA Division II football entering its game with Lenoir-Rhyne. The Blue Hose are currently ranked as high as No. 20 (D2football.com) and are ranked in three of the four major polls. The AFCA poll does not have PC ranked, but the Blue Hose did receive votes.
ABOUT LENOIR-RHYNE: The Bears come to Clinton owning a 2-2 record after earning wins over Livingstone and Benedict and losing contests to North Carolina Central and I-AA non-scholarship institution Davidson. Lenoir-Rhyne has not commandeered a winning season since 1994, which was also the last time that they claimed a SAC football crown. The Bears were chosen to finish eighth in the preseason Coaches Poll.
HIT THE GROUND SPRINTING: The Bears’ roster features a plethora of youngsters, as Coach Hicks and the Bears welcomed 50 student-athletes to campus in August. Lenoir-Rhyne has 21 true freshman (nine defense, eight offense, four special teams) listed on its depth chart, including two starters. Freshman Alvin Gibson is the starter at bandit for the Bears’ defense, while Dontez Simmons is a starting wide receiver for L-R.
YOUTH MOVEMENT: Lenoir-Rhyne in total lists 29 underclassmen on its depth chart, including redshirt freshman starting quarterback Justin Sanders. The offense including Sanders has four starting underclassmen, while the defense has three underclassmen starters.
RARITY: It is not often that Presbyterian is shutout in a contest by an opponent on the gridiron. In fact, PC’s 28-0 loss to Elon on Sept. 16 was the first shutout placed upon the Blue Hose offense since Elon defeated PC 21-0 in 1992.
L-R LAST WEEK: The Lenoir-Rhyne College Football Team (2-2) shut out its first opponent in over three years in a 17-0 win over Benedict College (2-3) ... Lenoir-Rhyne last held an opponent scoreless on September 6, 2003, a 24-0 win over Jacksonville, and opened Benedict’s new 11,000-seat stadium with a key road victory ... L-R’s defense limited Benedict to just 139 yards of total offense while forcing a pair of turnovers ... Lenoir-Rhyne got things going on its opening possession, driving 65 yards on 16 plays in 6:07 and ending with sophomore tailback Ronnie Edwards’ eight-yard touchdown run ... Edwards tallied the first 100-yard game of his career, finishing with a game-high 104 yards on 25 carries ... The scored remained 7-0 until the Bears’ put the contest away in the third quarter with 10 points ... Junior placekicker Andrew Coln kicked a 42-yard field goal and freshman tailback Brad Walker ran it in from seven yards out, the first touchdown of his collegiate career. Walker’s score ended a 71-yard, four-play drive ... Redshirt freshman Justin Sanders controlled the contest at quarterback, finishing with 121 yards passing on nine-of-21 attempts and did not throw an interception ... The Bears, as a team, produced 264 yards of total offense and did not turn the ball over while control the ball for over 34 minutes of the contest ... On defense, senior defensive back Rian Jefferson and junior defensive back Chima Okoro each tied for the team lead with seven tackles.
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE BLUE HOSE: Elon’s Wes Pope threw for 243 yards and two touchdowns and Elon shutout Presbyterian 28-0 before 9,542 at Rhodes Stadium. Pope only misfired on six of his passes on the day, going 21-for-27 … The Blue Hose were led offensively on the afternoon by Justin Durant, who finished the encounter with the Phoenix having corralled four catches for 71 yards. Teammate Corey Fidler concluded the day with 76 all-purpose yards (33 rushing, 43 receiving), including a 38-yard pass play in the fourth quarter … In his first intercollegiate start, Grayson Mullins ended the day with 131 yards passing and 14 yards rushing. Mitch Doolittle, who started the first three games of the 2006 campaign for the Blue Hose as the signal caller, threw for 53 yards after spelling Mullins in the fourth quarter … Derrell Doe led the Blue Hose defensively in the contest, tying for the team-high in the game with five others with six tackles. Doe’s six stops were all of the solo variety, which was the team-high in the contest … Elon scored its second touchdown of the game with 17 seconds left in the first half on an eight-yard pass across the middle from Pope to Bo Williamson in the end zone … The Phoenix - who picked up prime field position at the PC 42-yard line after a Grayson Mullins interception - tallied the position for the second touchdown on a broken play when Pope somehow escaped PC’s Adam McKinney in the backfield in what looked to be a sack. Pope then threw the football for 41 yards to a wide open Terrell Hudgins at the 11-yard line to give the Phoenix their pivotal play in a four play, 52 yard scoring drive … Elon scored the first touchdown of the game on a nine-yard pass from starting quarterback Wes Pope to running back Reggie Hall to place the Phoenix ahead 7-0 after the successful extra point attempt with 2:54 left in the first half … The Phoenix touchdown was made plausible via a 40-yard pass from Pope to Williamson that put Elon at the PC 35-yard line. Five plays later the Phoenix garnered their first points … Terrell Hudgins acquired his second touchdown of the afternoon and Elon’s third in the third quarter on a 31-yard pass from Pope to the back right corner of the end zone that gave the Phoenix a 21-0 advantage with 4:01 left in the third stanza … Elon went up 28-0 on the Blue Hose on a quarterback keeper by Pope in the fourth quarter.
PC-LR LAST YEAR: The No. 17 Presbyterian College Football Team held Lenoir-Rhyne College to just 41 yards of total offense in a 20-0 win ... PC forced L-R to punt on 12 of the Bears’ 13 possessions ... Presbyterian, which totaled 351 yards of total offense, turned the ball over three times in the first half but still managed to take a 7-0 lead into intermission ... Lenoir-Rhyne intercepted a PC pass at the Bear one-yard line in the first quarter and forced two Blue Hose fumbles in Presbyterian territory in the second quarter but could not capitalize ... The lone score before intermission came on PC quarterback Zach Ellis’ one-yard sneak on fourth down with 10:50 remaining in the second quarter ... Presbyterian gave itself some breathing at 14-0 early in the third quarter on Ellis’ eight-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Butler at the 11:56 mark that was set up by Kevin Molony’s 32-yard punt return ... PC put the contest away in the fourth quarter by using a 13-play, 88-yard drive that ended on Corey Fidler’s 13-yard run. Presbyterian totaled 177 yards on the ground on 47 carries and was led by Chetyuane Reeder’s 85 yards ... Fidler added 75 yards rushing and Ellis finished the day 18-of-29 passing for 174 yards with one touchdown and one interception ... However, PC’s defense was the story of the contest ... In addition to the 41 yards allowed, the Blue Hose limited the Bears to just two completions on 10 passing attempts and registered five quarterback sacks ... Quasi Gary was the Blue Hose top tackler with eight takedowns.
PC PICKED TO FINISH SECOND IN SAC PRESEASON POLL: Presbyterian College was tabbed to finish second h in this year’s South Atlantic Conference preseason coach’s poll. The defending champion Blue Hose received 50 points (two first place) while Carson-Newman College received 61 points including five of eight first place votes.
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.