GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — The Catawba College football team fell in a roller-coaster ride of a game to South Atlantic Conference foe Tusculum, 27-22, on Saturday night at Pioneer Field.
Catawba's (2-3, 1-2 SAC) special teams unit had an impeccable evening, accounting for all 22 of the team's points with a whopping three blocked kicks. Jamari Broady smothered two, one a field goal and the other a punt, which led to the pair of Catawba Indian touchdowns. Freshman kicker Francisco Garcia Rodriguez nailed each of his four attempts with good field goals from 38 and 31 yards out while going 2-for-2 on extra points.
On offense, Mason Fortune went 19-for-37 for 150 yards while facing a stingy Tusculum (3-2, 2-1 SAC) defense that offered tough pass rush and coverage. Saeed St. Fleur was Catawba's most productive offensive weapon with 69 yards on 11 totes, notching a season-best 6.3 yards per carry. Josh Barron led the blue and white in receiving with 41 yards on two catches, highlighted by a 34-yard reception that functioned as the Catawba Indians' longest offensive pickup. JP Gilchrist and Jay Moore each caught four passes, marking the team high, and combined for 56 yards.
Braylon Baker, Jaylen Hinton and Jymiek Sampson finished in a three-man logjam atop the tackling standings with eight apiece. Kunle Olaniyi picked up a solo tackle for loss with Baker and Zyon Walker splitting another. Luke Raykovicz snatched his third career interception and returned it for 33 yards as RJ Brown and Jaylen Houston each forced a fumble, totaling three takeaways by the secondary. Houston and Cameron Daniels were credited with pass breakups to round out the key defensive stats.
The Pioneers' triple-option formation lends itself to high rushing outputs, exhibited by a 294-56 gap on the ground as Tusculum reached the end zone three times. Catawba had the edge through the air at 150-98 but the hosts were far more efficient, needing just three completions to nearly break into triple figures. The Catawba Indians won the turnover battle 3-2, recovering two Pioneer fumbles with an interception. Time of possession favored Catawba, even against Tusculum's run-heavy offense that went 6-for-12 on third downs against the visitors' 4-for-15 conversion rate.
Catawba went three-and-out on the opening drive, but the defense forced Tusculum to cough up the football just outside the red zone to get it back. St. Fleur moved the rock with intent, pressing 23 yards as Fortune connected with Gilchrist twice for 18 yards before the offense stalled. The Pioneers retorted with an arduous six-minute drive that featured four third down conversions capped by a short-yardage score from Tedros Gleaton.
Orange jerseys denied Catawba through the air to trigger another punt at the start of the second quarter, but Kylan Odean was roughed on the play to produce a first down at midfield. Back-to-back pickups going for 22 and 11 yards by St. Fleur brought the Catawba Indians into field goal range as Garcia Rodriguez blasted a 38-yard try through the uprights. TU capitalized on a lengthy kickoff return by scoring a 65-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, taking a two-possession 14-3 lead. Looking to rebound, Catawba drove to the Pioneers' 25-yard line when TU stuffed a fourth-and-2 attempt before hustling up the field and bumping the score to 21-3 on a physical rush from Gleaton. The next kickoff featured extracurricular activity that resulted in the Pioneers being cited for personal foul and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, giving Catawba a heap of 30 yards on top of a 21-yard return by Tre Fields. The visitors got into the red zone and Garcia Rodriguez answered the call again, drilling a 31-yarder as time expired to make it 21-6.
Tusculum's optimism of receiving the second-half kickoff with a 15-point lead was almost immediately dashed when, on the first offensive play, a pass went through a Pioneer's hands and Raykovicz snagged it, almost taking it to the house. Hoping to punch it in from the 6-yard line, Catawba was halted until Gilchrist made a catch at the back pylon on fourth down, but officials ruled that he did not establish control of the ball. The Pioneers' big stop backfired as, pinned inside their own 10, a punt in the end zone was blocked by Tareavion Mageo for a safety. Both offenses collided with metaphorical walls on the next four drives, but the last one led to TU setting up a 50-yard field goal attempt right before the quarter break. The protection collapsed and Broady broke into the backfield, stuffing the kick as DeWayne Gissendanner corralled it and broke away for a 53-yard touchdown to pull Catawba back to a 21-15 deficit.
The Pioneers' ensuing kickoff return was marred by an illegal block in the back, putting them on their heels again at the 6-yard line. Punting from the 8, Broady went untouched around the shield and got almost all of it. Instead of going out the back of the end zone for another safety, it took a Catawba-friendly bounce to the 4 where Drew Searls scooped it up and took it in for the game-tying touchdown. Garcia Rodriguez's successful PAT was Catawba's 19th unanswered point to take a 22-21 advantage. Each side had their next drives end with a punt, but Ashton Hagans' 54-yard return put TU in business at the Catawba 15 as the Pioneers scored on the following play. The hosts attempted a two-point conversion, but the pass failed to keep the ledger at 27-22.
The Pioneers threatened to end it in a hurry, picking off the Catawba Indians on their second play of the next drive. However, Houston stripped TU on the second play of the Pioneers' next drive as Raykovicz recovered to give Catawba new life. A trio of Fortune completions helped the blue and white move across midfield, but another INT shifted all momentum toward the hosts who could ice the game with one first down. The Catawba defense held, however, using the squad's two remaining timeouts to force a punt on fourth-and-5; contact with the punter triggered a flag for running into instead of roughing. The referees marked off the five-yard penalty and spotted the ball inches behind the first-down line for a manageable fourth down conversion attempt. Gleaton dove forward two yards to close it out, putting an end to a wild contest that featured one of Catawba's best special teams performances in program history.
The Catawba Indians are back on home turf next Saturday, Oct. 3, with a rivalry game against Wingate at 6 p.m. inside Shuford Stadium.
