CULLOWHEE, N.C. ? Presbyterian College gave up 13 unanswered points in the fourth quarter and the Blue Hose fell 33-20 to the Western Carolina Catamounts before 8,365 at E.J. Whitmire Stadium on Saturday evening.
“We've got to execute better,” noted PC head coach Bobby Bentley in his press conference after the game “Both on our offense and our defense. Bottom line, what we do is based on execution, and we have to execute better.”
PC is now 1-3 on the 2007 season, while Western Carolina claimed its first victory of the year in the win to end the night 1-3 on the season.
PC was led in the loss once again by running back S.J. Worrell (Madison, Ga.), who finished the contest with 125 all-purpose yards.
Worrell ran for a season-best 76 yards on 11 carries, while also grabbing three passes for 49 yards.
Terrance Butler (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) and Larry Thomas (Orangeburg, S.C.) both tied for the reception-high in the game with seven catches each. The seven catches also tied them for the PC single game season-high.
Butler ended the game with seven catches for 79 yards, while Thomas finished the evening in his first game of 2007 with seven grabs for 66 yards.
The Blue Hose had two quarterbacks pass for over 100 yards for the second time in the last three weeks as Tim Webb (Lugoff, S.C.) and Grayson Mullins (Columbia, S.C.) both passed for over 100.
Webb came into the game in the second half and threw for 104 yards, going 10-for-13 on his pass attempts. Mullins was 10-for-23 for 142 yards with one interception in the first half.
Webb also threw for a touchdown.
Chris Bowman (Conway, S.C.) ended the night with a PC season-high 13 tackles to lead the Blue Hose defense. Bowman also had 10 solo stops to set the team season-high in the department.
Butler (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) willed the Blue Hose to their first tie of the game when he scored on a seven-yard end around to the left side that put the Blue Hose behind by just two at 20-18.
The Blue Hose squared the game at 20-20 when Butler caught a Webb pass for the two-point conversion.
Western Carolina took back the lead on its next possession when Mike Malone scored his second rushing touchdown of the game, giving the Catamounts a 26-20 advantage after a botched extra-point attempt by WCU.
The Catamounts would tack one more in the final seconds of the game to obtain the 33-20 win.
The Blue Hose entered the second half down by 11, but PC turned that around quickly with its first possession of the second half, marching down the field after receiving the kickoff for its first touchdown of the game.
Webb came off the bench to replace starting quarterback Grayson Mullins and promptly marched the Blue Hose 82 yards in 3:01 for the touchdown.
Webb found Matt Quinn (Wellford, S.C.) for the 30-yard touchdown reception that set the game at 17-12 after PC failed on its two-point conversion attempt.
Western Carolina placed three more points on the board near the end of the third quarter when Jonathan Parsons hit his second field of the evening with a 34-yarder to give the Catamounts a 20-12 lead.
Down 7-0, PC took advantage of a Western Carolina special teams blunder to net its first points of the game.
JR Thomason (Anderson, S.C.) gave the Blue Hose the opportunity for the score when after a Bryson Summers (West Columbia, S.C.) punt he snatched a Western Carolina bobbled punt return by jumping on the football at the WCU seven-yard line.
The Blue Hose could not punch the football into the end zone, but Cam Miller (Lyman, S.C.) was able to hit a 20-yard field goal to pull the Blue Hose within four at 7-3.
The Catamounts came back with a field goal of their own when Parsons hit his first field of the contest to put WCU ahead 10-3 with just under five minutes left in the first quarter.
PC put in its second field goal of the game with 12:19 left in the second quarter when Miller hit a 35-yard field goal to pull the Blue Hose once again within four at 10-6.
Presbyterian looked to be making its way to take its first lead of the game in the latter minutes of the second quarter, but WCU linebacker Mordy Ornguze picked up a Mullins fumble off the carpet and returned it to the PC end zone to seemingly put another touchdown on the scoreboard for the Catamounts.
Luckily for the Blue Hose, Western Carolina negated the touchdown by blocking a PC player in the back.
Nevertheless, shortly thereafter the Catamounts were able to pull ahead 17-6 when Todd Spitzer found Marcus Brown for his first career touchdown reception.
The two teams would enter halftime with the Catamounts leading by the same score.
Mike Malone opened the game's scoring on Western Carolina's first possession of the contest, scoring on an eight-yard run that gave the Catamounts after the extra point an early 7-0 lead with 9:17 left in the first quarter.
The Blue Hose next travel to Durham, N.C. next Saturday to face off against the North Carolina Central Eagles at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29.
PC returns to Bailey Memorial Stadium at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 6 for a game against Upstate rival North Greenville and its first home game since Sept. 8. The North Greenville game will be PC's Homecoming game.
PC-Western Carolina Box Score
Noting PC-Western Carolina...
SANS PAY DIRT: The first half of the Western Carolina game marked the first time that PC had been held without a touchdown in any half in the 2007 campaign. The Blue Hose had two field goals in the first half.
SECOND STRAIGHT WEEK: When Terrance Butler scored on a run and caught a two-point conversion pass to even the game at 20-20 it marked the second consecutive game that PC evened a game with their opponent in the first minute of the fourth quarter. PC evened the game at 21-21 the previous week in the first minute of the fourth quarter in the loss to Samford.
ONE MORE: S.J. Worrell's 125 all-purpose yards set a season-high by one yard. Worrell concluded the Samford game with 124 all-purpose yards (72 rushing, 52 receiving).
BEEN A WHILE: Western Carolina's victory over PC garnered the Catamounts their first victory in 12 games.
