Breaks Go UC's way in Season Opener
Breaks go UC’s way in season opener By Rick Ryan
Charleston Gazette
Assistant Sports Editor
Ever the religious man, University of Charleston coach Tony DeMeo admits to saying a few quick prayers Saturday afternoon as his team’s fortunes hung in the balance. Turns out he needed every one of them.
Defensive back Chris Rotella recovered a fumble in the end zone with 3:24 left in the game to give the Golden Eagles a harrowing 27-23 opening-game victory over Tusculum (Tenn.) at UC Stadium on a 90-degree day.
Charleston won despite turning the ball over four times, being hit with 14 penalties (one negating a 75-yard punt return for a score) and allowing 316 yards in the second half to the Division II Pioneers.
“This is a big win for us,’’ said UC coach Tony DeMeo. “[Tusculum’s] a good football team and they’re going to win a lot of games. I’m really proud of our guys. This was a gut-wrenching, hard-fought, good football game that could have gone either way.’’
The Eagles needed three huge breaks to go their way down the stretch:
On the first offensive play after Tusculum took a 23-20 lead, it looked like UC running back Josh Culbertson had fumbled a toss from quarterback DeRante Hunter and the Pioneers recovered at UC’s 34 with 6:32 left in the game. But officials ruled an inadvertent whistle had stopped play (one official felt it was a forward pass), and the down was replayed.
UC eventually punted the ball away, with Wes Sherrill’s pooch kick downed inside the 1 against the Pioneers, who didn’t use a return man. On first down from a four-man tightly-bunched backfield formation, the shotgun snap was errant and the ball glanced off the leg of fullback Justin Scott. Rotella fell on the bouncing ball for a UC touchdown.
Tusculum took the ensuing kickoff and drove to the Eagles 10. Corey Russell fired a pass over the middle to Ryan Tallent, who caught the ball and lunged for the goal line. He fumbled into the end zone and Rotella again covered it for UC with 1:11 to go.
“A good team makes it own breaks,’’ DeMeo said, “and I felt like we made some today.’’
Rotella certainly had a monster fourth quarter. Besides his two fumble recoveries, he also intercepted Russell’s Hail Mary pass in his own end zone as time expired.
“The way our defense is set up,’’ Rotella said, “it just sets us up to make plays. [On the recovery TD], I just happened to be there in the right place at the right time. It was hot here and you get fatigued, but we went to the fourth quarter and came out with a win.’’
UC got a peaks-and-valleys performance from Hunter, a redshirt freshman who took over under center this season for four-year starter Corey Isner.
Hunter was picked off twice, sacked four times and lost two fumbles, but was often spectacular in the open field. He took a bootleg 35 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter and threw a pair of scoring passes, 9 yards to Terrance Spencer and 6 yards to Rusty Taylor.
Hunter was 11-of-18 passing for 168 yards and ran 21 times for a net of 92 yards, but was well over 100 without the lost yardage on sacks.
“I feel a little tired,’’ said Hunter, who sat out one play in the fourth quarter after a hard hit. “That was my first game since December of 2005. I feel like I can play better than that. It was my first game in college, and I’m just going to get better and better after this. But it’s still a winning performance.’’
Hunter said a change of shoes at halftime had him feeling more comfortable running the ball. In the first half, he had 12 carries for minus-1 yard.
“I bought some new cleats Tuesday and just started wearing them,’’ Hunter said, “but it seemed like I couldn’t run [in the first half] like I was during camp. So at halftime I changed my cleats. I know it sounds hard to believe, but these are more comfortable than my high-fashion shoes.’’
UC survived the onslaught of Tusculum’s Russell, who hit on 31-of-53 passes for 322 yards and one TD, an 11-yard toss to Brandon Dixon (nine catches, 151 yards). Russell also ran for 49 yards and a TD in the second half.
Five times the Pioneers advanced inside the UC 30 with nothing to show for it. They lost the ball on downs at the Eagles’ 29 and 18, gave up Tallent’s fumble at the UC 1 and had a pair of short field goal attempts blocked by the well-timed leaps of UC defensive back Xavier Drakeford.
Tusculum wound up with 447 net yards but had four turnovers, three in the final 3:24. Coach Frankie DeBusk didn’t dwell on those mistakes, or the breaks that UC caught down the stretch.
“That’s part of the game,’’ DeBusk said. “If we had to do it over, we’d wish we weren’t in those situations — but we put ourselves in those situations. Those three plays obviously made the difference in the ballgame, but they weren’t the difference in the ballgame. We’ve got some fundamental issues and some execution issues.’’
DeBusk didn’t agree with the late inadvertent whistle, but again downplayed its importance.
“As the rule states, if there’s an inadvertent whistle, you replay the down,’’ he said. “I hate it. The ref made a horrible call, but that’s human nature. He made a mistake and, hopefully, I don’t like to think it truly cost us the game, because we should have made some other plays prior to that.’’