#21 Wingate (3-2, 1-0 SAC) vs. Wingate (4-1, 1-0 SAC)
Bailey Memorial Stadium
Saturday, October 7
2 p.m.
TODAY’S GAME: Presbyterian continues its South Atlantic Conference title defense against Wingate on Saturday. The game will be the homecoming game of for the Blue Hose. Presbyterian has won two consecutive games against the Bulldogs, scoring 27 points in each of the games. Presbyterian holds the overall series lead against the Bulldogs at 11-6 all-time.
FOND MEMORIES: The last time that Presbyterian College faced off against the Bulldogs on the gridiron, the Blue Hose clinched their first outright South Atlantic Conference championship with a 27-21 victory over Wingate University. It was the third SAC Championship for the Blue Hose. PC first shared the crown with Elon in 1978, which was followed by another title in 1979.
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 38-22 overall record. Wingate University — Head coach Joe Reich is in his 6th season with Wingate University. A 1987 graduate of Gettysburg College, Reich has led the Bulldogs to a 36-31 mark during his tenure, including an 8-3 mark in 2004; the same year he garnered SAC Coach-of-the-Year honors. Reich owns a 1-5 mark versus PC.
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. After its 24-13 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne last Saturday, 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. In total, the Blue Hose have won eight straight league games.
HOSE HAPPENINGS: The Blue Hose quarterback tandem of Grayson Mullins and Mitch Doolittle combined for 188 yards passing and two touchdowns in the win over Lenoir-Rhyne ... Mullins passed for 97 yards and one touchdown, while Doolittle threw for 91 yards and one touchdown ... Mullins threw the first touchdown of his career on a 58-yard pass to Justin Durant in the first quarter ... The 58-yard touchdown was the longest play of scrimmage this season thus far for the Blue Hose ... Durant finished the L-R game with a season-high 158 yards receiving and two touchdowns ... The preseason All-America selection now has a team-best three touchdowns receiving, catching all three touchdowns that have been thrown on the year by a Blue Hose quarterback ... Chetyuane Reeder, who was part of an All-Clinton backfield at some points in the Lenoir-Rhyne game as true freshman Sam Wilson lined up at fullback some for the Blue Hose in the game, acquired his first touchdown of the season against the Bears in the first quarter ... Sherman Burnett led the Blue Hose defensively in the L-R contest, concluding things with 10 total stops and 0.5 tackles-for-loss ... Burnett is tied for the team lead in total stops with 33 entering the Wingate game ... Preseason All-American Chad Burgess also has 33 total takedowns, including a team-high tying 16 solo tackles ... Justin Jones, who has 26 stops this season, also has 16 solo tackles.
PLAYERS TO WATCH: For the Bulldogs everything offensively begins with their redshirt signal caller Anthony Metzelaars. The Gardner-Webb transfer has been the most prolific quarterback in the SAC so far in the 2006 season, having thrown for a league-best 1,255 yards. The Charlotte, N.C. native, who is 96-for-166 this season on his passes, has also thrown a conference second-best six touchdown passes. His favorite target all season has been preseason All-SAC choice Dan Brooks. The senior wide receiver ended the Tusculum victory with the most catches in the SAC with 28 catches corralled for a league-topping 420 yards. Senior defensive back Donald Brown, who not only was a preseason all-league selection as a defensive back but as a return specialist as well, has led the Bulldogs in a plethora of ways this season. The Freedom, N.C. native has broken up a team-best seven passes and has acquired 18 total tackles, including one tackle-for-loss. Redshirt senior Stuart Sheppard, a 2006 preseason second team All-SAC selection as a linebacker, has commandeered the most stops for Wingate this season, finishing last week’s game with 34 (12 solo) total takedowns. A first team All-America selection last season for the Bulldogs, Kenwin Cummings has been just as succesful this season for Wingate. Cummings is tied for the league lead in sacks with six (five solo) sacks on the season and is once again the top dog in tackles-for-loss in the conference. The junior defensive end has 9.5 (seven solo) tackles-for-loss this year. The Blue Hose have been led all season offensively by preseason All-America selection Justin Durant, who in five games has corralled a team-high 19 catches for 369 yards and three touchdowns. The junior preseason All-America selection had one of the best games of his career in the win over L-R, finishing the contest with two touchdowns and 158 yards receiving on four catches. Corey Fidler leads the Blue Hose attack on the ground this season, rushing for 36 yards in the win over L-R to take back the team rushing lead with 158 yards picked up this season in five games. Fidler has scored two rushing touchdowns this season and has caught 10 passes for 105 yards. Defensively, Sherman Burnett finished the game with the Bears with 10 tackles to end the game tied for the team lead in total stops with 33. Teammate Chad Burgess, a consensus preseason All-America selection, had eight stops in the Lenoir-Rhyne to tie Burnett for the team lead with 33 tackles. Preseason All-America selection Antwan Thomas has a team-high 2.5 sacks on the season to go along with 30 total stops.
HIGH MARKS: Presbyterian is still ranked among the best in NCAA Division II football entering its game with Wingate. The Blue Hose are currently ranked as high as No. 21 (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 WINGATE: The 4-1 Bulldogs enter the tilt with Presbyterian looking to reach as many wins (five) as they did all of last season. The SAC coaches in the preseason tabbed them to finish in a tie for fifth with Tusculum - the team they defeated last Saturday - when the 2006 season ended.
SOMETHING IN COMMON: The Blue Hose and Bulldogs have faced two of the same opponents this season in Fayetteville State and Charleston Southern, with both teams garnering equal results against their opposition. Wingate commenced their 2006 campaign with a 19-0 victory over Fayetteville State. The Bulldogs led for much of the game against Charleston Southern, but fell 20-17 on Sept. 16 to suffer their only loss of the season. Presbyterian picked up its second win of the year in a 7-6 away game win over FSU, while Charleston Southern knocked off the Blue Hose in their first home game of the season on Sept. 2, 21-13.
HIGH AVERAGE: Presbyterian’s Justin Durant had one of the better games of his career in the victory over Lenoir-Rhyne. Durant’s 158 yards receiving in the victory left him with 369 yards in five contests. Broken down, Durant has averaged 19.4 yards per catch, which places him at the top of the South Atlantic Conference in the category.
BULLDOG BARRAGE: The Wingate passing game so far this season has been the best in the South Atlantic Conference. The Bulldogs concluded last week with the top pass offense in the league with an average of 279.8 yards picked up per game by the Bulldog passing attack.
LOW DOG: The Bulldogs have also been able to get it done on the defensive side of the ball. Wingate enters the PC game leading the league in scoring defense at 10.4 per game. The Wingate defense has surrendered just six touchdowns this season and a total of 52 points.
WINGATE LAST WEEK: Wingate University senior wide receiver Dan Brooks caught three passes for a career-high 138 yards and two touchdowns as the Bulldogs opened South Atlantic Conference play with a 21-3 victory over Tusculum College Saturday afternoon at Irwin Belk Stadium and John R. Martin Field on the Wingate campus ... On the afternoon, the Bulldogs compiled 282 yards total offense against the Tusculum defense. The Pioneer defensive unit entered the game allowing 189.3 yards per game, good enough for number two in NCAA Division II. Tusculum was also fourth in the nation in scoring defense, allowing only eight points per contest before Saturday ... The Bulldog defense held the Pioneers to 86 yards on 55 plays. Tusculum scored its only points of the evening with three minutes remaining in the second quarter. Pioneer redshirt freshman kicker John Gregory nailed a 45-yard field goal to put the visitors on the board ... Donald Brown returned eight punts for 71 yards with a long return of 23 yards. He added a pass interception for the Bulldog defense. Brown and his defensive teammates allowed TC senior quarterback Cody Baugh to complete only 13-of-32 passes for 50 yards ... Wingate senior linebacker Stuart Sheppard led all players with 11 tackles (one solo, 10 assists). Bulldog junior defensive end Kenwin Cummings had four tackles and a game-high three quarterback hurries. A 2005 All-American, Cummings added one tackle for loss.
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE BLUE HOSE: Presbyterian scored 21 points in the first 17 minutes of the game and never looked back as they defeated Lenoir-Rhyne 24-13 to acquire its 8th consecutive South Atlantic Conference victory … The #20th-ranked Blue Hose, who have now won seven straight against the Bears, improve to 3-2 (1-0) on the 2006 campaign, while L-R falls to 2-3 (0-1) … Justin Durant had one of the best days of his career in the contest, finishing the L-R victory with 158 yards receiving on just four catches. Durant finished the game with two touchdowns … The Blue Hose started off strong in the game, taking advantage of winning the coin toss to garner the game’s first points on their first drive … The quarterback tandem of Grayson Mullins and Mitch Doolittle combined for 188 yards (97 Mullins, 91 Doolittle) passing in the victory … Chetyuane Reeder first found paydirt for the Blue Hose, netting his first touchdown run of the year on a two-yard run to place the Blue Hose ahead 7-0 after a successful Carl Stevenson extra point attempt … It would not take long for PC to add more points to the scoreboard. On Lenoir-Rhyne’s inaugural play of the contest, PC’s Kevin Molony intercepted L-R starting quarterback Justin Sander’s first pass attempt at the PC 42-yard line to give the Blue Hose excellent field position … The PC offensive attack was able to pick up another touchdown on their first play after the interception when Grayson Mullins found a striding Justin Durant for a 58-yard touchdown with 7:27 still left in the first quarter. The touchdown pass was the first of Mullins’ intercollegiate career and after Stevenson’s extra point proved to be the game-winner … The 58-yard touchdown pass from Mullins to Durant was the longest of the season thus far for Presbyterian … The first quarter ended with the Blue Hose up 14-0, but it would not take long for them to tack on seven more as Doolittle threw his second touchdown pass of the season to Justin Durant with almost two minutes off the game clock in the second quarter. The 53-yard touchdown pass from Doolittle to Durant earned the Blue Hose a 21-0 lead … The Blue Hose finally surrendered their first points of the game in the latter minutes of the second quarter after giving the Bears stellar field position on a fumble at their own 23-yard line … Justin Sanders found Pete Goodman for a 20-yard touchdown. The Bears’ Andrew Coln missed the extra-point attempt, leaving the score at 21-6 going into halftime … Neither team would place points on the scoreboard in the third quarter, but Lenoir-Rhyne picked up their final points with 11:32 left in the final quarter on 23-yard pass from Sanders to Dontez Simmons. The touchdown made the score 21-13 … The Bears would not get any closer, but the Blue Hose did manage to get more confidence in their kicking game later in the quarter, as Carl Stevenson nailed 20-yard kick for his first field goal of the season and the Blue Hose’s first field goal since the West Georgia game on Aug. 26 … Sherman Burnett led the Blue Hose defensively in the win, finishing with 10 total stops.
PC-WU LAST YEAR: PC’s Zach Ellis tossed three touchdown passes and redshirt junior running back Corey Fidler topped the 100-yard plateau as the Blue Hose defeated Wingate University 27-21 Saturday afternoon at Irwin Belk Stadium ... The Blue Hose clinched the 2005 SAC regular season championship with the win. The title is PC’s first SAC regular season crown since 1979 ... PC controlled the ball, compiling a 13-minute advantage in time of possession (36:43 to 23:17). The Blue Hose amassed 488 yards of total offense, while holding Wingate to 29 ... Ellis completed 22-of-33 passes for 262 yards and three scores. Fidler led all rushers with 26 carries for 115 yards. Fidler also handled Presbyterian’s kick-off duties in the absence of redshirt sophomore punter/place kicker ... Wingate four-and-out on the Bulldogs’ next possession. PC. For PC, redshirt junior linebacker Cheyenne Keener had 13 tackles. Blue Hose redshirt freshman linebacker Antwan Thomas added 11 tackles. PC redshirt freshman defensive tackle David Dunagan added eight total stops, one interception, and one sack.
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 L-R, the Blue Hose’s record all-time is 464-417-35.
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.