Turnovers Key In 46-32 Victory over Presbyterian College

CLINTON, S.C. - CSU intercepted four passes in the first half en route to a 46-32 victory over Presbyterian College, Saturday at Bailey Memorial Stadium. It was the fourth-straight victory over PC for the Buccaneers.

It was the third time in school history that the Bucs have intercepted four passes in a game, and the second time they have done it in a single half, doing so in the second half against Edward Waters on Oct. 14, 2006. Antwain Harvey, Jacques Bazile, Charles James and Fred Godfrey each tallied their first interception of the season. CSU more than doubled their total interceptions for the year, entering the game with three interceptions in eight games.

"Turnovers were one of those things that have hindered us all season long," said Head Coach Jay Mills. "One of the things we did last year in finishing strong was win the turnover battle, and we had not been doing that (this year). Last week was the first week that we won the turnover battle, and this week that was obviously a huge part of the ballgame. We took points off the board for them, and in one case, it directly resulted in points for us.”

A.J Toscano finished the game 18-32 with a career-high 290 yards and four touchdowns. He was also the leading rusher with 61 yards and a touchdown, tying the school record for five touchdowns accounted for in a game (Tribble Reese vs. Edward Waters, 2008). It was the third time this year, and the second game in a row that Toscano has not thrown an interception.

Gerald Stevenson had 10 receptions for 149 yards and two touchdowns, adding 29 yards on the ground. It was the first time this season that CSU has had a receiver with 10 catches, and the second time in 2009 that Stevenson has topped 100 yards. His 178 all-purpose yards give him 3,973 all-purpose yards for his career and puts him atop the record books in the category.

The offensive line helped CSU to 195 rushing yards, and for the fifth time this season did not surrender a sack. The Bucs finished the game with 485 yards on 65 plays, while PC had 530 yards and ran 82 plays.

Godfrey and Andrew McKain tied for team-high honors with 10 tackles, while Matt Woods had 2.5 sacks and a pass breakup to cap off a career-day with seven tackles.

PC Freshman Lance Byrd filled in nicely as the backup running back, breaking the Presbyterian College school record with 274 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries in his first-career start.

Tim Webb finished 23-34 with one touchdown and 242 yards, but had the four interceptions and was sacked five times.

PC started the game with a 14-play, 70 yard drive to the CSU one yardline. The defense stood up Byrd on the give up the middle to force second down. PC tried to find the tight end on the roll-out, but the play was well defended by the Bucs, forcing quarterback Webb to flip the ball up on a jump ball in the back of the end zone. Harvey out-jumped the PC receiver and had a clear path 100-plus yards for the touchdown. It was his first interception of the year and the longest interception return in school history.

CSU only had one offensive possession in the first quarter, but made it count as Gerald Stevenson got behind the defensive back for a 33-yard touchdown reception to put CSU up 14-0. The points capped a nine-play, 78-yard drive after the defense forced a three-and-out on PC’s second possession of the game.

PC answered with the legs of the freshman Byrd, who had 154 yards on 19 carries on the first three Blue Hose drives, including 62 of the team’s 66 yards on their first scoring drive to make it 14-7.

Bazile’s interception ended a 44-yard drive by PC at the 22 yardline. The Bucs went 33 yards but could not finish the drive as Andy Brown came in for his first punt of the game,

Three plays later, James got the ball right back, intercepting the ball and returning it 28 yards just across midfield. James’ pick set up a two-play, 48-yard drive that ended with a 36-yard touchdown from Toscano to Anthony Chalmers for his second touchdown of the year. CSU remained up 20-0 after John Paglia’s extra point was blocked.

The final interception of the half came with two seconds on the clock as Webb tried to force a pass inside the CSU 10 yardline but found the body of Fred Godfrey instead, ending the threat and the half as the Bucs elected to kneel the ball.

CSU had no trouble moving the ball to start the second half as they went 65 yards in 11 plays. The drive was finished with a two-yard pass to defensive tackle Ryan Ard, who returned momentarily to his tight end position, where he was a 2007 all-conference performer. Trying to account for the blocked PAT, Toscano lined up for a pass on the two-point conversion. He completed it to another tight end, Clayton Coffman, but Coffman was stopped short of the goal line, keeping it at 26-7.

After a five play drive, PC punted the ball, trying to pin CSU inside the 10 yardline. It worked out better than expected for the Blue Hose as CSU committed the first big mistake of the game with a muff by Ivey, giving PC the ball with 10 yards to go.

The CSU defense stiffened and did not give up a touchdown, but Aaron Mayes was true from 26 yards out to cut the lead to 26-10.

Both teams had one more touchdown drive in them in the third quarter, with a 22-yard rush by DeMarcus Moon set up an 11-yard touchdown scamper on the keeper by Toscano. Again the Bucs elected to go for two, trying the rush this time, but Ivey was again stopped short to keep the score at 32-10.

A 24 yard pass from Webb to Sean Adegbola in the back corner of the end zone provided the final points of the third quarter.

A 41-yard field goal attempt finished CSU’s first drive of the fourth quarter, but the Blue Hose got a piece of the ball off the foot of Paglia and the ball sailed wide right.

Down by 15 with under 12 minutes to play in the game, PC started to force things, electing to go for it on fourth down. Matt Woods got his hands up and deflected Webb’s pass immediately, giving the ball back to the Buccaneers.

Byrd and the PC offense was not finished and would get another chance and Byrd added 26 yards to his record-setting day to get the Blue Hose to within eight at 32-24.

The onside kick failed and CSU essentially slammed the door shut with a 16-yard pass on the slant pattern to Stevenson for the touchdown, pushing the lead back to 39-24 With 4:34 left in the game.

CSU forced their fifth turnover of the game on the ensuing drive as Chris Patrick popped the ball loose from Byrd. Joel Walton returned it down to the 12 yardline to set up a touchdown run by B.J. Hackworth, his second late-game touchdown in as many weeks.

With 1:01 on the clock, backup quarterback Brandon Miley connected on a fade pass to Patrick McKoy, and with penalties on each team, the Blue Hose connected on a two-point try to get within two touchdowns at 46-32.

With their second road win in a row, the Bucs improved to 4-5 overall on the season and evened their Big South mark at 2-2. PC fell to 0-9 (0-4 Big South) on the season.

The Buccaneers return home for the final two weeks of the season as they host Stony Brook and Coastal Carolina on November 14 and November 21, respectively. Both games will kick off at 1:30 p.m. from Buccaneer Field.

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