Story co-written with Matthias Morgan
Seven days after enduring a stinging 27-point beating in their Southern Conference opener at ETSU, the Western Carolina Catamounts found themselves backed firmly into a corner.
Entering Saturday’s night showdown during Football Alumni Weekend for WCU at E.J. Whitmire Stadium, head coach Kerwin Bell challenged his young roster to grow up in a hurry against an unblemished, top 10 nationally ranked conference newcomer in No. 9 ranked, Tennessee Tech.
Behind a relentless ground attack that chewed up about 300 rushing yards and a ferocious defensive effort that forced five takeaways, Western Carolina dismantled the ninth-ranked Golden Eagles 44-20. The 24-point rout kept the Catamounts with a perfect record at home in Cullowhee at 3-0, while also snapping Tennessee Tech’s undefeated campaign, and handed WCU its highest-ranked victory since toppling No. 8 Samford in 2023.
“Coming off last week, we needed a game like this at home and in front of our home crowd,” Bell said following the win. “We talked with the kids about how our backs are against the wall. We had to grow up in a hurry and had to find ways to improve as a football team. I thought we did a good job of getting guys off the field on third down and offensively being more consistent throughout the game (with) scoring touchdowns. I think both of those things helped us to go out and win the game.”
The Catamounts (3-3, 1-1 in SoCon) seemingly controlled the game from the opening kickoff. Western Carolina operated a 13-play, 84-yard opening march following Tennessee Tech’s opening drive ending with a punt. Kicker Bryan McCollum ended the drive with a 25-yard field goal to draw first blood in the matchup.
The floodgates opened shortly after. Following a quick defensive stop, the quarterback-turned-defensive-tackle Jordan Martin-Durham checked in on offense near the goal line and drove into the end zone from a yard out to make the score 10-0. Early in the second quarter, junior quarterback Lex Thomas uncorked a highlight-reel shot, finding a streaking Jai Boyd over the middle for an explosive 49-yard touchdown strike. Just 17 minutes into regulation, the Catamounts had stunned the Golden Eagles with a 17-0 lead.
Senior quarterback Jax Leatherwood led Tennessee Tech to mounting a late second quarter charge. Leatherwood connected with star wideout Gabe Nunez on a 18-yard touchdown strike at the 10:43 mark. Though McCollum responded with a 39-yard field goal for WCU, Leatherwood struck again, this time finding Eric Weatherly for a 4-yard score with 4:32 remaining before halftime.
With the first-half clock creeping up on zero, Tennessee Tech kicker Carter Brown drilled a 50-yard field goal as time expired, capping a 17-point field goal that trimmed Western Carolina’s cushion to 20-17 at the break.
Western Carolina hit the ground to start the second half. The Catamounts marched 80 yards downfield. On second-and-6 from the TTU 35 yard line, Perry took a handoff and sliced through a massive cease opened by the offensive line, and outran the Golden Eagles’ secondary for a 35-yard touchdown, broadening WCU’s cushion once again at 27-17.
Perry was the engine of the Catamounts offense all night. The sophomore workhorse pounded Tech’s defensive front for 157 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries. Complementing Perry was Thomas, who tallied 94 rushing yards on 19 attempts, Thomas also completed 19 of 30 passes for 236 yards and one touchdown with no turnovers. Together with Marlin Cochran (26 yards), and Martin-Durham, WCU’s rushing attack accumulated 298 yards across 61 carries.
Though Leatherwood racked up 342 passing yards and Nunez hauled in 13 catches for 223 yards, the Catamounts repeatedly stood tall in the critical moments. Midpoint through the third quarter with Tech threatening at the WCU 1-yard line, Catamount defensive back Braylon Jones forced a fumble on wide receiver Tre’ Holliday at the pylon that bounced into the end zone for a touchback. Moments later, when Tech pushed to the Catamount 12-yard line, WCU forced three straight incompletions, limiting TTU to a 30-yard field goal.
The dagger sequence had just started for Western Carolina. With five seconds left in the third quarter, safety Nakoma Simpson-Nealy caught Leatherwood’s pass that was bouncing in the air through multiple tips from players, securing an interception and returning it 12 yards to the Tennessee Tech 13-yard line. The drive ended in a 29-yard field goal, and on the Catamounts following possession, Perry burst across the goal line from 13 yards out to push the score to 37-20.
The Catamounts slammed the door with 1:03 left, Martin-Durham punched in the end zone with his second 1-yard touchdown surge.
The victory also evened the all-time series between Western Carolina and Tennessee Tech at 7-7-1, snapping a multi-decade series drought dating back to 2000.
“I know being back home would give us confidence”, Bell said. “I felt like we had no confidence last week. It was more physical, and I think they got a great wake-up call from ETSU…The fans, the band, the student section, the atmosphere, I thought really gave us a chance to play with confidence tonight.”
The Catamounts now turn their attention to another road test next Saturday against back-to-back league champion Mercer.
“Tough schedule through the SoCon, man,” Bell said. “ETSU on the road, here tonight, then we have to go back on the road against the team that’s won it the last two years. It’s personal for me, I’m 0-5 against them since I’ve been here. I’ll tell you one thing: it’ll be physical, just like tonight.”
Western Carolina will hit the road to face Mercer on Saturday, Oct. 10. The game is slated for 3 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.
