PC-NGU Box Score
CLINTON, S.C. ? Presbyterian College's Brandon Clark finished with a career-best 10 catches for 125 yards in PC's 22-15 homecoming victory over North Greenville on Saturday afternoon at Bailey Memorial Stadium.
Clark (Duluth, Ga./Buford) was one of six Blue Hose to catch a pass in the victory over the Crusaders. Terrance Butler (Myrtle Beach, S.C./Socastee) finished the game with four catches for 30 yards and one touchdown.
Redshirt-freshman quarterback Brandon Miley (Wilmington, N.C./JT Hoggard) completed his first career pass in the win over the Crusaders in the second quarter in relief of starter Tim Webb (Lugoff, S.C./Lugoff-Elgin), who had to leave the game due to an injury.
Miley was 12-for-16 overall in the contest, passing for 101 yards and one touchdown.
PC's Chris Bowman (Conway, S.C./Conway) led all defensive players in the contest with 11 tackles on seven solo stops and four assists. Bowman had a half a sack and 1.0 total tackles-for-loss.
Bowman was one of three Blue Hose with eight or more tackles. Anthony McKnight (Sumter, S.C./Crestwood) had eight tackles in total in the game, while Antwan Thomas (Hawkinsville, Ga./Hawkinsville) concluded his efforts in the game with eight stops.
North Greenville was led in the game by its running back tandem of Rashad Cummings and Matt Moore. Both finished the game with over 130 yards rushing. Cummings had 135 net yards, while Moore had a touchdown and 132 yards on the ground.
The Blue Hose led for most of the contest, scoring its first touchdown of the game with 3:43 left in the first quarter. Clark picked up the touchdown for PC when he caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from Webb to put PC on top 7-0 after Cam Miller's (Lyman, S.C./Byrnes) extra point.
North Greenville responded on its next offensive possession when Moore broke loose from the Blue Hose defense for a 62-yard touchdown down the left sideline just 19 seconds after PC's opening touchdown.
The Crusaders were not able to convert the extra point to allow the Blue Hose to remain on top by one point at 7-6. That would be as close as North Greenville would get as the Blue Hose held on to the lead for the remainder of the game.
PC extended its lead to 14-6 at halftime after Torrell Funderburk (Pageland, S.C./Central) returned a blocked punt for a 27-yard touchdown. The touchdown off a blocked punt marked the first time that PC had scored on a punt block in almost two years as the last time PC was able to score points on punt block was in its 38-7 victory over Newberry in the South Atlantic Conference championship season of 2005.
Neither team could muster any points until the end of the third quarter when North Greenville's Brad Wood brought down Miley in the end zone for a safety and two points for the Crusaders. The safety was the first against the Blue Hose since it season-opening 37-35 loss to West Georgia during the 2002 season.
The score 14-8 after the safety, North Greenville had a couple chances to go ahead in the fourth quarter, but the PC defense held strong and would not let the Crusaders take the lead.
The defensive stands were indicative of the strong play of the Blue Hose defense in the red zone in the game. North Greenville had three red zone opportunities in its loss, but went scoreless in all three. PC in turn was 1-for-2 in the red zone.
Butler acquired PC's final touchdown in the game when brought in a floating pass from Miley in the front right corner of the end zone with 2:23 left in the game. The touchdown catch was the sixth of the year for Butler, who has scored in every game but one in 2008.
The touchdown by Butler was punctuated by a two-point conversion pass from Miley to Robert Bumgarner (Durham, N.C./CE Jordan). The two-point conversion was the first for PC since Webb connected with Butler for a two-point conversion inn the win over VMI in the 2007 season.
The Crusaders scored one final touchdown on a 24-yard pass across the middle from Richard Harb to Travis NeeSmith. The touchdown would not be enough though as the Crusaders did not have enough men on the right side on its ensuing on-side kick attempt to give PC the 22-15 victory.
The Blue Hose will have its second consecutive home game for the first time in its NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision era next when they host North Carolina Central at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11 at Bailey Memorial Stadium. It will be Military Appreciation and Take-A-Kid-To-The-Game Day at Bailey Memorial Stadium.
