Presbyterian Earns Second SAC Victory With 30-21 Win Over Tusculum
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Presbyterian’s S.J. Worrell scored the first touchdown of his intercollegiate career at the 2:39 mark of the fourth quarter to commandeer the Blue Hose a 30-21 win over Tusculum College before a homecoming crowd of 2,132 at Pioneer Field.
Presbyterian led for almost the entire contest, but Tusculum closed the margin to two with just under five minutes left when Travis Oliver caught a Corey Russell pass to make the score 23-21.
Worrell, who finished the game with 60 yards, found daylight up the middle on Presbyterian’s next series to net the final score of 30-21 after Carl Stevenson’s extra point sailed through the uprights.
Justin Durant led the Blue Hose in the victory, finishing the contest with a team season-high tying seven catches for 128 yards and one touchdown.
The real story of the day might have been the Blue Hose special teams, particularly the kicking unit. PC, who had hit only three field goals all year prior to the TC game, was successful on all three of its field goals, with Bret DiTulio hitting one and Carl Stevenson picking up two.
Bryson Summers had probably his best game of the season punting, averaging 40.4 yards-per-punt on 7 punts.
With the score 16-14 after a 26-yard pass from Tusculum’s Russell to Jamaal Gray for a touchdown, Chetyuane Reeder scored what would eventually become the game-winning touchdown at the 12:02 mark of the fourth quarter when he scored from 12 yards out to give the Blue Hose a 23-14 advantage.
It was the second touchdown of the year for the Clinton native.
Presbyterian went into halftime up 16-7 after Carl Stevenson hit his second field goal of the afternoon and the third of the half for the Blue Hose with no time left on the game clock. Stevenson’s 31-yard kick was made plausible after PC obtained the ball at the TC 36-yard line after a bad snap by center Mike Simpson gave the Blue Hose opportune field position.
The Blue Hose deferred the coin toss to the second half to commence the game, but once PC obtained the ball the Blue Hose wasted no time on etching their name on the scoreboard.
DiTulio, who had not hit a field goal since the West Georgia game, nailed his second field goal of the season to place Presbyterian ahead 3-0 with 11:30 left in the first quarter. DiTulio’s 42-yard field goal was the longest of the year for the Blue Hose.
Presbyterian garnered its first touchdown of the game in the second quarter when Grayson Mullins connected with Justin Durant for a 19-yard touchdown. It was the second touchdown pass of the season from Mullins and it gave PC a 10-0 lead.
Under three minutes later PC took advantage of preseason All-American Chad Burgess’ first interception of the year, getting its second field goal of the afternoon when Carl Stevenson hit a 20-yard field goal through the uprights to spot Presbyterian a 13-0 lead.
Tusculum did not take long though to get on the board, as the very first play on the next series Jamichael Caldwell caught a Corey Russell pass for a 61-yard touchdown to make the game 13-7 after a successful Glen Black extra point.
Defensively, the Blue Hose were led by Antwan Thomas and Burgess. Thomas concluded the game with 11 total stops and a season-high tying two sacks, while Burgess hauled in his first two interceptions of the season.
Burgess’ final interception with just under a minute left in the game gave the Blue Hose a chance to run out the clock offensively.
Presbyterian improves to 2-1 in SAC play and 4-3 overall, while Tusculum falls to 1-2 in league action and 4-3 overall.
The Blue Hose continue their South Atlantic Conference title defense on Saturday, Oct. 21 against Mars Hill. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m. at Meares Stadium in Mars Hill, N.C.