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SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford College football team defeated Charleston Southern 41-23 on Saturday night at Gibbs Stadium. Charleston Southern took an early 10-0 lead and had a 20-19 advantage in the third quarter before two Terrier touchdowns gave Wofford the lead for good.
The Terriers are 2-0 on the season and Charleston Southern is 0-2. Wofford was led by Mitch Allen with 135 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries, while Eric Breitenstein had 75 yards on seven carries. Charleston Southern quarterback Tribble Reese was 30-of-46 with one interception and 250 passing yards. On defense, Wofford was led by Buck Brown with twelve tackles.
“There is not doubt that they exposed some things tonight that we have to correct,” said head coach Mike Ayers. “We have to get better in kickoff coverage. Defensively we played hard, but we had some missed assignments that we can correct. Their offense I thought was an excellent offense. Conceptually they are very good and they have the people to operate that. In some cases tonight there were long series that we were out there defensively, we get the ball back and in one play we score and the defense is back out there. Sometimes you love scoring, but then you have a bunch of guys out there that have not had time to take a drink before they are back out there.
“We will work really hard on conditioning the next two weeks along with the fundamentals,” added Ayers as the team heads into a bye week. “We have to work really hard on the mental game. That said, our kids are growing and they are maturing. When you look at our football team, we have young kids sprinkled throughout. We have a lot of young kids out there that are doing a lot of great things. We still have a ways to go.”
On the opening drive of the game for Charleston Southern, they were able to drive 44 yards in nine plays with a six-yard touchdown reception by Tim Jones capping the drive. After the Terriers punted on their first drive, the Buccaneers added a 48-yard field goal by John Paglia to take a 10-0 lead with 3:05 left in the first quarter.
Wofford responded in just three plays, as Eric Breitenstein had a 46-yard run which set up a 38-yard touchdown reception by a wide-open Andy Strickland from Ben Widmyer. The Terriers missed the extra point, making it a 10-6 game at 2:00 in the first quarter.
The Bucs then put together a 14-play drive that ended in a 35-yard field goal by John Paglia for a 13-6 lead at 9:54 in the second. On the ensuing kickoff, Mike Rucker went 66-yard to get the Terriers deep into Charleston Southern territory. Michael Scott capped the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 13-13 at 7:22 in the second.
The Terrier defense was able to force the first three-and-out of the game and the Bucs punted. Wofford and Charleston then traded punts, with Wofford the recipient of a punt by the Bucs that went for minus-eight yards after the snap went over the punters head. With 1:12 left on the clock and the ball at the Bucs’ 36-yard line. After two first downs, the drive stalled and Wofford settled for a 22-yard field goal by Patrick Mugan for a 16-13 lead as the first half expired.
To open the second half, Dane Romero picked up two big rushing first downs for Wofford. A holding penalty called back a touchdown run by Ben Widmyer and the Terriers added a 38-yard field goal by Patrick Mugan for a 19-13 lead at 11:46 in the third quarter.
Charleston Southern was able to put together a 14-play drive that went 75 yards and was capped by a three-yard touchdown run by Antwan Ivey to take a 20-19 lead at 4:57 in the third quarter. The Terriers wasted no time in responding when Andy Strickland went 71 yards on a reverse on the first play of the drive. Patrick Mugan then ran in the two-point conversion for a 27-20 lead at 4:36 in the third.
The Bucs were forced to punt after a sack by Matt Norcia and Aaron Scott for a loss of eleven yards. Mitch Allen came in at quarterback for the Terriers and after two rushing first downs, went 29-yards on the ground for a touchdown. Wofford was up 34-20 at 14:52 in the fourth quarter.
Charleston Southern’s Gerald Stevenson went 61-yards on the ensuing kickoff return, however the drive ended with a 34-yard field goal by John Paglia for a 34-23 score at 13:08 in the fourth. Wofford had another long kickoff return by Mike Rucker, but the Terriers turned the ball over on downs at the one-yard line.
On the next drive by Charleston Southern, they were able to drive to the Wofford 19-yard line, but turned the ball over on downs. With the Terriers just trying to run out the clock, Mitch Allen broke free and went 42-yard for a touchdown with 36 seconds left in the game for a 41-23 score. Charleston Southern had a 48-yard kickoff return, but on the first play Keaton Thompson picked off the pass which effectively ended the game.
Wofford out-gained Charleston Southern 443 to 103 on the ground and had a 490 to 310 advantage in total yards. Charleston Southern was 12 of 19 on third down. Charleston Southern had the ball for 38:33 to Wofford’s 21:27.
After a bye week, the Terriers will face South Carolina on September 20. A game time has not yet been announced by South Carolina, however it is expected to be a night game.
Wofford vs. Charleston Southern
Post-Game Notes
The game was moved to Spartanburg earlier in the week due to tropical storm Hanna, which hit the South Carolina Coast early Saturday morning. Attendance was 3,817. “It was a rough week planning with the weather issues,” said Ayers. “I appreciate everyone that showed up. On short notice there was a good crowd there and they got loud and I know our guys appreciated that.”
Wofford’s Michael Scott scored his first career touchdown in the second quarter. Alex Goltry recorded his first career sack in the second quarter.
The 38-yard field goal by Patrick Mugan in the third quarter was a career long.
Mitch Allen scored his first career touchdown on a 29-yard run in the fourth quarter and added a second in the fourth quarter.
Keaton Thompson intercepted his first career pass in the fourth quarter.
