Wofford College Digital Commons @ Wofford Sports Press Releases Athletics 10-1-2002 Football Press Releases October 2002 Wofford College. Sports Information Office Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wofford.edu/sportspr Recommended Citation Wofford College. Sports Information Office, ootball"F Press Releases October 2002" (2002). Sports Press Releases. 42. https://digitalcommons.wofford.edu/sportspr/42 This News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Athletics at Digital Commons @ Wofford. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sports Press Releases by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Wofford. For more information, please contact [email protected]. From: Cohen, Mark /O=WOFFORD COLLEGE/OU=FIRST ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN=COHENM Subject: McCoy Run in Overtime Leads Wofford Past Chattanooga Date: October 5, 2002 at 8:02 PM To: Cohen, Mark [email protected] Jesse McCoy scored on a 12-yard run in overtime, his third touchdown of the day, to lead No. 20 Wofford to a 27-21 victory over Chattanooga this afternoon in the Terriers' Homecoming game at Gibbs Stadium in Spartanburg, S.C. McCoy had 121 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 13 carries in addition to catching a 45-yard touchdown pass from Trey Rodgers. It was the sixth career 100-yard rushing game for McCoy and his second this season. On Chattanooga's opening possession of the overtime, Wofford inside linebacker LaRay Benton's hit forced a Mario Hain fumble on second down from the 22-yard line. Terrier freshman Jim Thurman, a Chattanooga-area native (Hixson, Tenn.; Red Bank High School), fell on the loose ball for his second fumble recovery of the game. McCoy's game-winning touchdown came on the fourth play of Wofford's overtime possession. The Terriers have opened at 2-0 in the SoCon for the first time in six seasons of league play. At 4-1 overall, Wofford is off to its best start since beginning the 1991 campaign with a 5-0 mark. "I'm proud of the way the kids responded in overtime," Wofford Head Coach Mike Ayers said. "We did what we needed to do to win the game. Defensively, our kids hit hard and I can't say enough about how they played. Offensively, we did just enough to win." Wofford outgained Chattanooga by a 425-to-329 margin, including a 328-to-129 advantage on the ground. Trailing 21-7, Chattanooga (0-6, 0-2) scored twice in a 3:23 span of the fourth quarter to even the game at 21-21 on a 30-yard Ryan McCann touchdown pass to Jeremy Grier with 6:14 remaining. After completing just 3-of-7 passes for 25 yards in the first half, McCann went 12-of-20 for 175 in the second half to finish the game 15-of-27 for 200 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. "That is still by far the best we've ever done defensively against them since they (Wofford) made a commitment to the program and got better," Chattanooga Head Coach Donnie Kirkpatrick said. "The second half was a lot of fun. I didn't feel like Wofford could stop us on offense in the second half. "We surely did not want to give Wofford a shot with the ball at the end of regulation. We were wanting to go into overtime and get it into a kicking contest with them. We knew they were struggling with field goals and extra-points. Unfortunately for us, it didn't work out." After a scoreless first quarter, the Terriers took a 7-0 lead with 7:56 left in the first half when McCoy's three-yard scoring run capped a 15-play, 80-yard drive. McCoy's three-yard scoring run capped a 15-play, 80-yard drive. Two possessions later, the Terriers went 76 yards in two plays to take a 13-0 lead when Rodgers hit a streaking McCoy down the left sideline with the 45-yard scoring pass. On the previous play, senior fullback Melvin Jones had a season-long 31-yard run as part of his 135 yards on 22 carries. Jones had a one-yard scoring run, and a subsequent two-point rush, to give Wofford a 21-7 lead with 9:46 to play in the third quarter. A Wofford turnover on the opening play of the second half set up Chattanooga with its first points of the game. An eight-yard scoring pass from McCann to Jason Jones capped a six- play, 22-yard drive to bring the Mocs within 13-7. Josh Cain topped Chattanooga with a season-high 22 tackles. He recorded his 400th career tackle in the second quarter and tops with SoCon with 97 stops on the year. Wofford travels to VMI next Saturday while Chattanooga will have an open date before returning to action on Oct. 19 when it hosts the Keydets. From: Cohen, Mark /O=WOFFORD COLLEGE/OU=FIRST ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN=COHENM Subject: Additional Note on Wofford football game Date: October 5, 2002 at 8:21 PM To: Cohen, Mark [email protected] As a follow-up to the story on Wofford's 27-21 overtime victory over Chattanooga that you just received... The overtime game represented Wofford's first win in overtime after losing its two previous contests (Samford, 1996; Louisiana-Lafayette, 1999) in the extra period. The game represented the first overtime contest at Gibbs Stadium. From: Cohen, Mark /O=WOFFORD COLLEGE/OU=FIRST ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN=COHENM Subject: Wofford Football Climbs in Top 25 Polls Date: October 7, 2002 at 5:06 PM To: Cohen, Mark [email protected] The Wofford College football team moved up to the No. 17 and No. 18 positions in this week's Division I-AA polls by ESPN/USA Today and The Sports Network, respectively. This week's rankings represent the Terriers' highest appearance ever in the I-AA Top 25. Wofford was ranked No. 20 in both polls last week after debuting at No. 19 following the Sept. 21 14-7 victory at Georgia Southern. The Terriers, 4-1 overall, have opened the SoCon season with a 2-0 record for the first time in six seasons of league play. Wofford is at VMI on Saturday. Kickoff is 1 p.m. from Lexington, Va. From: Cohen, Mark /O=WOFFORD COLLEGE/OU=FIRST ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN=COHENM Subject: SoCon Selects Wofford's McCoy and Thurman for Weekly Honors Date: October 8, 2002 at 1:08 PM To: Cohen, Mark [email protected] Wofford College halfback Jesse McCoy has been named the Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Week with inside linebacker Jim Thurman the Freshman of the Week following their performance in Saturday's 27-21 overtime victory against Chattanooga. McCoy and Thurman teamed for the same honors following the Terriers' 14-7 victory at Georgia Southern (Sept. 21). McCoy totaled 166 yards of offense, including three touchdowns, against the Mocs. His 12- yard scoring run in overtime provided the winning points for Wofford. He had a three-yard touchdown carry in addition to a 45-yard scoring reception from Trey Rodgers in helping the Terriers build a 13-0 halftime lead. A senior from Acworth, Ga., McCoy rushed for 121 yards on 13 carries to go over 100 yards for the second time this season and the sixth time in his career. The 1999 SoCon Freshman of the Year also surpassed the 2,000-yard mark in career rushing. His 2,086 yards place him second among active rushers in the SoCon. Thurman had two fumble recoveries, including one in overtime, to go with 10 tackles. The Hixson, Tenn., has started the last two games in place of an injured Robert Mathis. Thurman played the final 59 snaps while totaling 13 stops at Georgia Southern in his previous award-winning performance. He also had 13 stops, including no missed tackles, in the Sept. 28 game at Maryland. Prior to this season, Wofford had not received a SoCon Offensive Player of the Week Award in its first five years of league play. A Terrier has now garnered the honor three times this year. Quarterback Jeff Zolman was the recipient in the opening week of the season after his performance in a 48-0 win over Newberry. From: Cohen, Mark /O=WOFFORD COLLEGE/OU=FIRST ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN=COHENM Subject: Wofford Football Notes -- Saturday's Game at VMI Date: October 9, 2002 at 2:25 PM To: Cohen, Mark [email protected] Attached is a .pdf file with Wofford's football release for Saturday's game at VMI. Kickoff is 1 p.m. from Lexington, Va. If you have any trouble with the attachment or prefer to receive the notes in a different manner, please feel free to let me know. Thanks. Mark Cohen Associate AD/SID Wofford College WoffordFBNotes -VMIgame.pdf W O F F O R D VS. V M I Wofford (4-1, 2-0) Game 6 Aug. 31 NEWBERRY 48-0 Wofford at VMI Sept. 14 at South Carolina State 7-6 October 12, 2002; 1 p.m. Sept. 21 at Georgia Southern* 14-7 Alumni Memorial Field (10,000); Lexington, Va. Sept. 28 at Maryland 8-37 Oct. 5 CHATTANOOGA* (OT) 27-21 Oct. 12 at VMI* 1:00 This Week Oct. 19 WESTERN CAROLINA* 1:30 •The Wofford College football team, ranked No. 17 by ESPN/USA Today and No. 18 by The Oct. 26 at Appalachian State* 2:00 Sports Network, will face VMI for the final time as SoCon rivals when the teams meet in Nov.