Football Loses at Western Carolina

CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Jonas Randolph rushed for 174 yards and two touchdowns but the Lions lost to Western Carolina, 52-31 Saturday night at E.J. Whitmire Stadium and Bob Waters Field. Both teams took their season record to 1-1 on the year.

Following Randolph was Shaikel Davis who rushed 10 times for 100 yards and Jon Richt threw for 105 yards completing 11-33 attempts. Dimitri Holmes caught four passes for 59 yards. Corey Durben and Kevin Johnson led the Lions' defense with 11 and eight tackles in the contest, respectively. Johnson added a sack and 1.5 tackles-for-loss. Mars Hill accumulated 466 total yards, 300 on the ground.
WCU recorded 653 total yards, 355 on the ground. Shaun Warren led the WCU ground attack with 203 yards and four touchdowns. Brandon Pechloff threw for 285 yards and two scores completing 17-29 passes.

Mars Hill scored the first touchdown of the game on a 56-yard run by Randolph less than two minutes into the game (13:32). WCU answered at the 10:59 mark of the opening quarter when Shaun Warren ran in from 11 yards out. Randolph then scampered in from 20 yards out with 9:35 left in the first frame to extend the Lions lead to 14-7. Warren then found the endzone on a 30-yard run with 4:50 left in the first period to tie the contest at 14-all. Again, Warren found pay dirt with 1:06 on the clock in the first quarter when he ran in from 10 yards out to give the Catamounts the lead for good, 21-14. Randolph ended the first quarter with 131 rushing yards on 11 carries (11.9 avg.).

Michael Pinkerton nailed a 42-yard field goal with 12:06 left in the first half to trim WCU's lead to 21-17. The rest of the first half belonged to the Catamounts. Clark Sechrest hit a 32-yard field goal with 8:35 remaining to make the score 24-21 and then Pechloff hit Jacoby Mitchell on a 75-yard touchdown pass to take a 31-17 lead with 6:53 left in the second quarter. Pechloff then found Deja Alexander on a 46-yard scoring strike with 5:33 left in the half to extend the Catamounts advantage to 38-17. Late in the first half, Warren broke loose for a 82-yard run to the Lions 12 yard line that set up a Garret Brown 3-yard score (2:34) two plays later to give WCU a 45-17 lead. The teams would carry that score into the locker room at the intermission.

Randolph finished the first half with 157 yards and two scores on 18 carries (8.7 avg.). Warren led WCU with 162 yards and three touchdowns (10.8 avg.). Pechloff went 15-25 for 257 yards and two touchdown passes.

The only score of the third stanza came at the 5:38 mark when Warren ran in from 20 yards out to give WCU a 52-17 advantage.

Chisom Onyeuku blocked a Sechrest punt attempt that was recovered in the Catamount endzone with 7:02 left in the contest by Trey Clark that made the score 52-24. Luis Cruz broke loose with 1:35 remaining in regulation and ran 22 yards to the endzone to make the final tally, 52-31 in favor of the hosts.

Mars Hill will open SAC play at Brevard College next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.