GREENVILLE, S.C. – Billy Napier passed for a career high 252 yards and two touchdowns as NCAA I-AA fifth-ranked Furman held off Western Carolina for a 24-23 win in Southern Conference action Saturday afternoon in front of 13,125 fans at Paladin Stadium.
Napier, the nation’s leader in passing efficiency, completed 15-of-22 passes, including a 15-yard touchdown toss to Brian Bratton and a 44-yard scoring strike to Bear Rinehart, who caught five passes for a career high 153 yards. The win was Furman’s (4-1, 2-0 SoCon) fifth straight over Western Carolina (3-3, 1-2 SoCon) and the Paladins’ 14th-straight home triumph over SoCon opposition.
Despite Napier’s record setting performance, Furman only managed to escape Western Carolina’s upset bid when Chris Vought missed an extra point attempt after Fred Boateng scored on a 4-yard run with 3:43 left to pull the Catamounts to within a point. Instead of attempting an onside kick, the Catamounts kicked deep, and Furman was able to burn most of the remaining time off the clock with a pair of first downs.
The Catamounts regained possession at their 44 with 19 seconds left following a poor 15-yard Furman punt, but a desperation pass by quarterback Brian Gaither was picked off by Furman’s Cam Newton to end the game.
“We didn’t play our best game today, but you have to tip your hat to Western Carolina,” said first year Furman head coach Bobby Lamb. “They came out today and were the aggressor. They were doing a little bit of different stuff than we had seen them do. It was a big win, and we’ll take that any day in the Southern Conference.”
“This was a real heartbreaker,” said Western Carolina head coach Kent Briggs, also in his first year as head coach. “We never gave up and we proved we could play with one of the best teams in America. Not one play or one player won or lost this game. I didn’t believe that extra points would win or lose the game. I knew we would have to battle to the end.”
Wofford 27
Chattanooga 21
Jesse McCoy scored on a 12-yard run in overtime, his third touchdown of the day, to lead No. 20 Wofford to a 27-21 victory over Chattanooga this afternoon in the Terriers’ Homecoming game at Gibbs Stadium in Spartanburg, S.C.
McCoy had 121 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 13 carries in addition to catching a 45-yard touchdown pass from Trey Rodgers. It was the sixth career 100-yard rushing game for McCoy and his second this season.
On Chattanooga’s opening possession of the overtime, Wofford inside linebacker LaRay Benton’s hit forced a Mario Hain fumble on second down from the 22-yard line. Terrier freshman Jim Thurman fell on the loose ball for his second fumble recovery of the game.
McCoy’s game-winning touchdown came on the fourth play of Wofford’s overtime possession.
The Terriers have opened at 2-0 in the SoCon for the first time in six seasons of league play. At 4-1 overall, Wofford is off to its best start since beginning the 1991 campaign with a 5-0 mark.
“I’m proud of the way the kids responded in overtime,” Wofford Head Coach Mike Ayers said. “We did what we needed to do to win the game. Defensively, our kids hit hard and I can’t say enough about how they played. Offensively, we did just enough to win.”
Wofford outgained Chattanooga by a 425-to-329 margin, including a 328-to-129 advantage on the ground.
Trailing 21-7, Chattanooga (0-6, 0-2) scored twice in a 3:23 span of the fourth quarter to even the game at 21-21 on a 30-yard Ryan McCann touchdown pass to Jeremy Grier with 6:14 remaining. After completing just 3-of-7 passes for 25 yards in the first half, McCann went 12-of-20 for 175 in the second half to finish the game 15-of-27 for 200 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
“That is still by far the best we’ve ever done defensively against them since they (Wofford) made a commitment to the program and got better,” Chattanooga head coach Donnie Kirkpatrick said. “The second half was a lot of fun. I didn’t feel like Wofford could stop us on offense in the second half.
“We surely did not want to give Wofford a shot with the ball at the end of regulation. We were wanting to go into overtime and get it into a kicking contest with them. We knew they were struggling with field goals and extra-points. Unfortunately for us, it didn’t work out.”
The overtime game represented Wofford’s first win in overtime after losing its two previous contests (Samford, 1996; Louisiana-Lafayette, 1999) in the extra period. The game represented the first overtime contest at Gibbs Stadium.
Georgia Southern 52
VMI 7
STATESBORO, Ga. – Sophomore quarterback Chaz Williams (127) and senior slotback Zzream Walden (115) each established new career rushing bests and combined for three touchdowns to lead Georgia Southern to a 52-7 Southern Conference victory over Virginia Military Institute Saturday afternoon at Paulson Stadium.
The Eagles racked up 575 yards of total offense, including 495 ground yards, during the last scheduled football meeting between the two schools as the Keydets will begin play in the Big South Conference next fall.
“I felt that we were a much improved team from what we showed last week. I think our senior leadership is finally starting to take control of this team,” Georgia Southern head coach Mike Sewak said. “It’s easy to see that leadership on defense and the affect that it has on that unit but now you are starting to see it on offense as well.”
Georgia Southern’s defensive unit allowed a season-low 43 rushing yards during the contest and kept VMI scoreless until quarterback Joey Gibson found Pedro Garcia on a five-yard scoring toss with just 3:21 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“You have to give our defense a lot of credit,” Sewak said. “I don’t think we communicated well in our packages, thus the reason for the 12-men-on-the-field penalties, but overall the defense played extremely well today.”
Williams’ performance, which topped a pair of 120-yard efforts against Gardner-Webb earlier this season and Chattanooga last week, marked the just third time in the last three years that an Eagle quarterback has recorded back-to-back 100-yard rushing games. He also completed three-of-six passes for 51 yards before sitting out the fourth quarter.
Walden, who averaged 19.2 yards a carry after picking up his 115 yards on just six attempts, scored twice in the opening half the first to open the game on a personal-best 44-yard run. The effort marked the second century-mark performance of his career and first since 2000 when he picked up 106 against Johnson C. Smith.
Despite its struggles on the ground, Virginia Military (2-4, 0-3) got another strong outing from quarterback Joey Gibson, who completed 16-of-34 passes for 196 yards.
The Eagles held the Keydets to its lowest scoring output of the season and limited their 10th consecutive regular season opponent to 14 or fewer points.
Wyoming 34
The Citadel 30
LARAMIE, Wyoming (Ticker) – Derek Armah capped a 181-yard rushing day with a 24-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter as Wyoming snapped a school-record 12-game losing streak with a 34-30 victory over Division I-AA The Citadel.
Armah, a junior tailback, became the first Cowboys back to top 150 yards since Nate Scott rushed for 192 against Central Michigan in 2000. Armah, who entered the season as Wyoming’s third-string back, carried 29 times.
Wyoming quarterback Casey Bramlet also was active on the ground, running eight times for 14 yards and delivering a key fourth-quarter touchdown. Bramlet also rushed for a two-point conversion late in the second quarter to give the Cowboys (1-4) a 20-13 lead.
Travis Zobel kicked a 38-yard field goal as time expired to pull the Bulldogs (1-4) within 20-16 at the intermission. Zobel also converted field goals of 28 and 26 yards in the first half.
The Citadel took the lead on the opening drive of the second half, marching 80 yards in 13 plays. Nehemiah Broughton’s one-yard TD run put the Bulldogs ahead, 23-20.
Broughton added a 31-yard TD run six seconds into the fourth quarter, giving The Citadel a 30-20 lead. Broughton carried 33 times for a career-high 175 yards, his third consecutive 100-yard performance.
Wyoming closed to 30-27 on Bramlet’s five-yard TD scamper 4-1/2 minutes into the final period.
Both quarterbacks excelled in a 22-mile-per-hour wind. Bramlet completed 20-for-25 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns, while The Citadel’s Jeff Klein threw for 335 yards to match a season high.
The Bulldogs have lost their last three games despite scoring 92 points.

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