Box Score Game stats (pdf)
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – In the Southern Conference opener for the Wofford football team, four touchdowns from Eric Breitenstein led the Terriers to a 38-17 win over Furman on Saturday afternoon at Gibbs Stadium. For the day, Wofford had 400 rushing yards and averaged 6.1 yards per carry on the way to the victory over the #18/23 ranked Paladins.
The Terriers are 3-1 on the season and 1-0 in the conference and the Paladins are 2-2 and 1-1 in the SoCon. The Terriers were led by Eric Breitenstein with 230 yards and four touchdowns. Mitch Allen added 121 rushing yards and one passing touchdown. Ameet Pall recorded three sacks in the game and led the team with seven tackles. For the Paladins, Mike Brown had 34 rushing yards and Cody Worley was 19-of-34 with one touchdown and three interceptions.
“This was a tough opponent and a well-coached opponent that plays hard and does the right things,” said head coach Mike Ayers. “This week the whole thing that we tried to instill in the players was focus. We knew we had the talent to be a good football team, but we had glitches mentally and were not as focused as we needed to be for 60 minutes. We came out and thought we physically got after them on the lines. We beat them and were able to move them. I thought we did a great job with the game plan and the offensive and defensive coaches did a great job of creating the package. Overall it was one of those days where there were a lot of good things.”
The Terriers had the ball to open the game and drove deep into Furman territory before settling for a 22-yard field goal by Christian Reed with 7:11 in the first quarter. The Paladins opening drive advanced to the Wofford 26-yard line before a 33-yard field goal attempt was blocked, however a penalty gave Furman a first down. The drive ended with a 31-yard field goal by Ray Early for a 3-3 game at 3:42 in the first quarter.
The teams traded punts on their next possessions. With the ball back, Wofford used a 65-yard run by Eric Breitenstein to move the ball inside the 20-yard line. Three plays later Breitenstein capped the drive with a four-yard touchdown run for a 10-3 lead at 12:24 in the second quarter. On the next drive by Furman, James Zotto intercepted a pass by Cody Worley. The Terriers converted the turnover into points with a three-yard touchdown run by Breitenstein to take a 17-3 lead with 5:24 left in the second quarter.
With three minutes to go before the half, Furman used a 39-yard pass from Cody Worley to Adam Mims for a touchdown to cut the lead to 17-10. At the half, Breitenstein already had 125 yards for the Terriers.
To open the second half, Furman went three and out and punted. Wofford turned to the passing game as Mitch Allen found Brenton Bersin for a 37-yard reception that set up a ten-yard fade pass to Bersin in the corner of the end-zone to take a 24-10 lead at 9:21 in the third quarter.
Blake Wylie made a leaping interception of Cody Worley on the Paladins next drive, however the Terriers turned it back over to Furman with an interception by Mitch Allen. Furman though would return the favor just three plays later as Jamar Reaves intercepted Worley. With the ball back, the Terriers put together an eight-play drive that was capped by a 26-yard touchdown run by Eric Breitenstein for a 31-10 lead with 12:40 left in the game.
Furman was forced to punt on their next drive, however the Terriers fumbled the return. The Paladins needed only two plays to score as Jerry Williams ran in for a one-yard touchdown. After trading punts again, Wofford got the ball back with 6:18 left on the clock. The Terriers used 5:37 in eleven plays on the drive as Eric Breitenstein scored his fourth touchdown of the game from four-yards out to make it 38-17. Furman picked up one first down in the final 41 seconds.
The Terriers had 452 total yards, with 400 on the ground. Furman had 251 yards, 204 of which were passing. Wofford had the time of possession advantage. Wofford was 12-of-16 on third downs. Furman was 6-of-14 on third down.
Next weekend Wofford will travel to Georgia Southern for a 6:00 pm game in Statesboro.
Wofford vs. Furman Post-Game Notes
Eric Breitenstein ran for 230 yards and four touchdowns. The 230 yards are the eighth most in a single game and are the most by a Wofford player since Lamond Smith had 256 yards in 1994. Breitenstein is the first player to have over 200 yards in the NCAA Division I era at Wofford.
Breitenstein and Mitch Allen each had over 100 yards, marking the first time since November 14, 2009 against Samford two Wofford players reached that mark. It was the third 100+ rushing game for Allen and the fourth for Breitenstein.
Mike Rucker had three kickoff returns for 100 yards, giving him 2,224 in his career. He is the all-time leader in career kickoff return yards, eclipsing the mark of 2162 set from 1991-94 by Bill Robinson.
Game captains for Wofford were Coleman Hornaday, Lavadrick Farrar and Clark Bishop.
The interception by Mitch Allen in the third quarter was the first interception thrown by the Terriers this season. However, Wofford came up with three interceptions in the game, the first time since October 25, 2008 against Elon that the Terriers picked off three passes in a game.
At halftime, the Wofford men’s basketball team received their rings for the 2010 Southern Conference Championship.
Attendance was 9,290 at Gibbs Stadium.
