Catamounts about to enter the stadium against Samford
E.J. Whitmire Stadium was a packed house Saturday, largely in part because it was family weekend in Cullowhee. However, it was not enough to propel the catamounts to a victory as they came up short against Samford, 25-21.
The catamounts played host to the Samford Bulldogs in their conference home opener. The catamounts pounced on Samford quarterback Andy Summerlin on the first play of the game, forcing a fumble in the endzone that was recovered by Caleb Hawkins for a catamount touchdown. After the two teams traded interceptions and missed field goals, Samford finally got themsleves on the board midway through the 2nd quarter on a Fabian Truss 25-yard scamper for a touchdown. Just before halftime, Senior Jamez Ellis proposed to Erica Long on the field during a media timeout and she said yes. Samford tacked on a field goal just before the half.
The catamounts would answer when quaterback Eddie Sullivan put together two consecutive touchdown drives in which he connected with senior Connor Orr for the first, and senior Jacoby Mitchell on the second. This gave the catamounts a 21-10 cushion heading into the final quarter. However, the lead would slip away when Samford put together two consecutive touchdown drives of their own including a two-point conversion to regain the lead at 25-21.
After a clutch stop by the catamount defense, Sullivan and the offense was given the ball back with 3:15 remaining in the contest. After a 5-yard rush by Darius Ramsey and two incomplete passes by Sullivan, the catamounts were faced with a fourth down. On fourth down, Sullivans pass inteded for Karnorris Benson fell incomplete and the catamounts dropped their third consecutive game.
“Our men battled today. We got to finish games like that and I’m confident we will,” tweeted Head Coach Mark Speir following the game.
Samford (4-0, 2-0) will travel to Georgia Southern next weekend while Western Carolina (1-3, 0-2) hit the road for Furman.
