PC-Liberty Box Score
CLINTON, S.C. ? Cam Miller's 28 yard field goal with 7:04 left in the fourth quarter propelled the Blue Hose to a 31-28 victory over No. 17 Liberty before 6,193 fans on Saturday afternoon at Bailey Memorial Stadium.
The victory over the Flames was PC's first over a nationally-ranked opponent since the school made the move to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision level in 2007. PC's last win over a ranked opponent came in a 10-0 victory over NCAA Division II No. 10 Newberry in the final Bronze Derby game on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2006.
Miller entered the game just 1-for-5 on the year in field goal attempts. Nevertheless, Coach Bentley was more than confident in Miller's abilities.
Miller responded to Bentley's confidence by calmly stepping up and nailing the field goal through the middle of the upright's. The successful field goal by Miller earned PC its first advantage of the contest.
Liberty had two offensive possessions after Miller's kick, but the Blue Hose defense held strong to preserve the win.
Blue Hose freshman defensive back Justin Bethel (Blythewood, S.C./Blythewood) swatted away Liberty's final attempt to pick up the win on fourth and 15 with 30 seconds left on the game clock.
Redshirt-freshman quarterback Brandon Miley (Wilmington, N.C./J.T. Hoggard) then had the opportunity to kneel down for the victory over a nationally-ranked opponent in only his third career start as the Blue Hose signal caller.
PC finished the game with 390 yards of total offense, while Liberty concluded the loss with 424 yards of offense. The Flames held the advantage on the ground (220-89), but PC held the advantage in the air (301-204).
Miley tallied all of PC's yards in the air, passing for over 300 yards for the second consecutive game. Miley was 21-for-29 overall en route to the 301 yards passing. He had two touchdown passes.
The Blue Hose had nine receivers make a catch against Liberty. Chetyuane Reeder (Clinton, S.C./Clinton) led the way, hauling in a team-high tying four catches for 95 yards. Reeder had a long reception of 70 yards in the win.
Tyler Robbins (Homewood, Ala./Homewood) tied Reeder for game-high honors, bringing in four receptions for 36 yards.
Miller led the Blue Hose special teams attack, going a perfect 4-for-4 on his extra points in addition to the game-winning field goal.
The Blue Hose concluded the game with three players recording double-digit stops.
PC's Anthony McKnight (Sumter, S.C./Crestwood) led all defensive players in the game with 14 total tackles, which was a career-high for the senior. He picked up 11 of his tackles on solo stops. He also had half a sack.
Senior Antwan Thomas (Hawkinsville, Ga./Hawkinsville) finished with 13 tackles in the game to end his day now tied for third all-time in the PC football annals with 336 total tackles to his credit in his career.
Chris Bowman (Conway, S.C./Conway) was the final Blue Hose to end his day with double-digit tackles. The sophomore finished the day with 10 total stops on seven assists and three solo tackles. Bowman had one tackle-for-loss.
Chris Rocco led the Liberty defense with 10 total tackles. The nephew of Liberty head coach Danny Rocco, Rocco had seven solo stops.
Walter Payton award candidate Rashad Jennings led the Liberty offense with 188 yards on the ground. Jennings concluded the game with two touchdowns.
The two teams entered halftime tied 14-14.
Liberty struck first in the second half when Jennings scored the second of his two touchdowns from two yards out.
PC answered the score moments later when Brandon Clark (Duluth, Ga./Buford) caught a 43-yard pass from Miley to square the game at 21-21.
After Liberty (7-2) scored once more to go ahead by seven once again the Blue Hose would not let the lead last long with S.J. Worrell (Madison, Ga./Morgan County) scoring from one yard out with 45 seconds left in the third quarter to tie the game at 28-28.
Miller's kick would then prove to be all that the Blue Hose would need as it was the only points of the fourth quarter.
The victory over the nationally-ranked Flames improved the Blue Hose to 4-5 on the year overall. The win over Liberty also improved PC to 4-1 on the year at Bailey Memorial Stadium.
The Blue Hose will next take on Charleston Southern at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 8 in Charleston, S.C.
