After yet another lightning delay, the Catamounts finally looked like the team head coach Kerwin Bell had been waiting to see.
Running back Josh Perry ran for 142 yards and three touchdowns. Quarterback Lex Thomas threw for 268 yards and a score while Western Carolina found its rhythm in the second half to beat Presbyterian 58-14 on Saturday night at E.J. Whitmire Stadium. The win improved Western Carolina to 2-2 and closed non-conference play on a high note before Southern Conference action starts next week.
A lightning delay postponed the original 2:30 p.m. kickoff – the third weather interruption of the season for WCU. Once the game started, Western Carolina controlled it from the opening drive.
Thomas found wide receiver Jai Boyd for a 36-yard touchdown pass midway through the first quarter, and Perry punched in a 3-yard run just before the break to make the score 14-0. Bryan McCollum added a 38-yard field goal early in the second, pushing the lead to 17-0.
Presbyterian answered with a 5-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Landon Sharpe to running back C.J. Johnson and a 6-yard run by running back Damion Moate, but the Blue Hose never got closer than 10 points after Perry’s 62-yard burst made it 24-7. McCollum drilled a 45-yard field goal as time expired in the half, sending the Catamounts into the locker room up 27-14.
After halftime, Western Carolina pulled away for good.
Perry scored again on a 14-yard run early in the third; linebacker Joshua Collins intercepted Sharpe and returned it 12 yards, setting up running back Marlin Cochran’s 5-yard touchdown plunge. McCollum added a 27-yard field goal, and the lead swelled to 44-14 by the end of the quarter.
In the fourth, running back Derrick Davis Jr. scored from a yard out, and the backups finished the job on a short touchdown drive led by quarterback Isaac Lee. Lee threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Kale Woodburn to make the final 58-14.
Western Carolina finished with 659 total yards, with 325 coming from the ground and 334 through the air. Perry carried 16 times for his three scores. Cochran added 43 yards and a touchdown. Thomas completed 24 of 33 passes with no interceptions. Boyd caught three balls for 103 yards and the early touchdown. A.J. Colombo led the receivers with seven catches for 64 yards.
McCollum was perfect, connecting on all three field-goal tries (39, 45, and 27 yards) and all seven extra points.
Defensively, the Catamounts tightened considerably after a lackluster second quarter. Collins’ interception was the only takeaway, but the unit forced multiple three-and-outs and limited Presbyterian to 247 total yards. Sharpe completed 19 of 27 pass attempts for 162 yards, one touchdown and the interception. The Blue Hose managed just 72 rushing yards on 30 carries.
Bell pointed to the cumulative effort of the first four weeks when asked about the performance.
“Well, I think it was a combination of the last 3 weeks; you know we asked a lot from this team to improve, and one (point) was to start fast last week, and we did that, and I thought it carried over and we started fast offensively,” Bell said. “I thought they had their way in the second half with our (second quarter defense), just not playing to our standards, and we made some adjustments here at halftime, and some of them had a ‘Come to Jesus’ moment. We just gotta go play at our level. I don’t care what the score is, we gotta go make a run starting next week. We got to play more consistently defensively, and I thought they came out and did that in the second half, so it was good to see all three phases playing really well together.”
On the ground game that had been inconsistent earlier in the season, Bell noted progress against Cincinnati carried over.
“Well, I thought it started alright against Cincinnati, you know, we had 70 or 80 yards, and we were able to block them up really good, and they have a really good defensive front at the FBS level, so we got a lot from that, and we just have been working on it, and we got some really big backs who can run downhill, run through tackles, and I think that showed tonight.”
With non-conference play complete, Bell framed the upcoming SoCon schedule as the true start of the season.
“Well, it’s like I told the team in the locker room, it’s almost like a preseason game, NFL preseason, right? We are 2-2, (found) our way through it, (and) got better. It was non-conference games, and what matters is, just like the NFL, they kick it off in the regular season. And these 8 games, SoCo games, we got to go win them. One at a time, and we got to play our best football. I think we’re in a position now, sitting here after going through those 4 games, with a bunch of new players, and I think we put ourselves in a position to go be competitive.”
He closed by acknowledging the fans who stayed through the delay and the growth he saw on the field.
“We wanted to play well here at home, and with the delays we didn’t have a big crowd, some stayed around. But (it was) a good crowd, (and) I appreciate them staying through all that, but we wanted to really show our fans that we have grown as a football team and we have gone through a lot these 4 games, and I think we showed tonight that we’re a better football team than we were four weeks ago.”
Western Carolina is back on the road next Saturday to take on its mountain rival East Tennessee State in the Blue Ridge Border Battle. Last year, the traveling trophy “The Rock” ended with ETSU after WCU lost the game 52-35. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m.
