Presbyterian Uses Late Touchdown To Down Fayetteville State
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – 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. Starting with great field position at the FSU 43-yard line in the latter minutes of the third quarter, Presbyterian marched its way to the six-yard line of the Broncos.
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 had the lead in the game for almost two full quarters, finding the end zone at the end of 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.
After Antoine Carter intercepted an Autry pass to place the Blue Hose in good field position with the football on the Broncos’ 44-yard line it looked as if Presbyterian’s Grayson Mullins, who replaced starting quarterback Mitch Doolittle as the Blue Hose’s signal caller for two series in the second quarter, would lead PC to its first points of the evening and the first of his career at PC.
Presbyterian could not score though, as Bret DiTullio missed a 22-yard field goal to keep the game 6-0.
Individually, All-American Chad Burgess was the star, recording a team-high 10 total tackles, including six solo stops. Burgess also picked up two tackles-for-loss in the victory. Teammate Antwan Thomas tallied nine stops and one sack.
The Blue Hose visit Elon next week for the second game of a two-game road swing. Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m. at Rhodes Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 16.