Final Stats

September 5, 2009 - Fayetteville, NC - With possession of the ball and down by one point, Fayetteville State (0-2 overall) once again failed to perform in a 21-20 loss to Catawba; 2-0 overall. When Catawba College began their final drive of the game with 1:53 remaining, the Indians grinded down the clock to give the Broncos a final go-at-it with 31 seconds remaining. In the previous game against UNC Pembroke, the Broncos drove the ball from its 43-yard line to the Braves 17 in 30 seconds to hit a 34-yard field goal and tie the game for overtime. As FSU took tonight's final drive from its 33, the hopes of driving the field and giving CIAA Specialty Player of the Week Austin Turner a chance of winning the game (with a field goal) the best strategy. The Indian defense pressured the first two plays into incomplete passes. They stopped the following complete pass at the line of scrimmage with approximately eight seconds left and a 4th-and-10 situation. On the final play, Marqus Davis broke through the line-of-scrimmage and sacked Benjamin Williams to secure the victory.

Prior to the game, the talk of the town hinged around the visit of former UNC and starting Catawba quarterback Cameron Sexton and the return of Richard Medlin, who served his CIAA one-game suspension, for the Broncos. On the third play of the game, Sexton completed his first pass for nine yards but left the game with a grimace due to an ankle misfortune. On the Broncos second possession of the game, Medlin rushed the ball nine yards towards the right-side pylon and dove through the air like superman into the endzone. The score gave the Broncos an early lead with 3:51 remaining in the first quarter. On the Indians following drive, Senior Jeffrey Gowdy intercepted backup quarterback Patrick Dennis' pass on Fayetteville State's 18-yard line. Three plays later, the Broncos committed its first major blunder by throwing an interception of its own on the 25-yard line and watching the return enter the endzone for a Catawba score. Later, Austin Turner nailed a 41-yard field goal with 31 seconds left in the half for a 10-7 Bronco halftime lead.

Although, Fayetteville State received first possession in the second half, the Broncos finished the third quarter with a total 15 offensive plays and 20 yards. FSU accumulated five penalties for 43 yards and allowed its quarterback to be sacked three times. Austin Turner hit a 37-yard field goal but Catawba managed two passing touchdowns for a 14-13 lead after three quarters.

Early in the fourth quarter with 13:45 on the clock, Medlin broke away from the defense and scampered 25 yards for his second touchdown of the game. The Broncos seemed to show some dominance down the stretch, but a sack in FSU's final two drives delayed all chances of its first victory of the season.

Fayetteville State was flagged with 14 penalties for 121 yards, gave up eight sacks for a loss of 47 yards and threw one interception that was returned for a touchdown. Catawba limited its penalties to nine for 86 yards, lost one fumble and threw one interception. The Indians' quarterback was sacked three times for 25 yards.

FSU also lost the total offense comparison at 349-to-266 but out-threw the Indians 205-to-173. The Broncos had a gross of 150 rushing yards to a net 166 yards by Catawba, but after calculating the backwards yardage, Fayetteville State ended up with 61 net yards.

Medlin ended the day with 72 yards from 21 rushes and four catches for 45 yards. Bobby Wilder had 41 rushing yards and 66 receiving yards. Benjamin Williams connected 18 of 29 passes for 209 yards and one interception.

Catawba's Antonio Hall ran for 116 yards while Dennis threw 12-of-25 for 174 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

The game was webcasted on www.fsubroncos.com. Fayetteville State will travel to Bowie State next weekend for another non-conference game.