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Catamounts blank Shorter in Wagner’s debut as coach
Adam Horn, who beat out two other candidates for the starting quarterback job, completed 22 of 33 passes for 254 yards leading Western Carolina to a season-opening 35-0 victory over Shorter last Thursday at E.J Whitmire Stadium/Bob Waters Field.
A crowd of 5,778 saw Dennis Wagner make a successful debut as coach of the Catamounts.
Donald James caught nine passes for 61 yards, and Marquel Pittman had six receptions for 106 yards.
Jayson Williams led the WCU ground game with 90 yards in 14 carries.
Western Carolina’s Marquel Pittman makes one of his six catches, which totaled 106 yards, in Western Carolina’s season-opening 35-0 victory over Shorter last Thursday. – Photo by Mark Haskett
The Cats had a total offense advantage of 477-142 with most of the discrepancy coming through the air, where the Hawks managed just 33 yards.
Shorter’s A.J. Cooley carried 12 times for 74 yards.
“It’s early,” Wagner said. “This is the first game of the year. By no means does this say where we’re going or what we’re doing. It’s certainly a step in the right direction, and that’s what this football program has to do to is start getting their chests back up and their heads back up and believing in themselves.”
The victory matched WCU’s win total from all of last year.
Western scored on four of its five possessions in the first half to put the game away.
The Cats’ first play was a 56-yard pass from Horn to Pittman at the Hawk 8. After a penalty against Shorter, Adam Hearns went in from the 4 on the next play. The first of Blake Bostic’s four extra points made it 7-0 with 11:55 to go in the opening quarter.
Western drove 80 yards in 12 plays the next time it had the ball. Highlights were Williams’ 15-yard run and an 11-yard pass from Horn to Kyle Garland. Horn tossed a 6-yard touchdown pass to Pittman making it 14-0 with 4:27 left in the first period.
Cooley’s 42-yard run put the Hawks in position for T.C. Jay’s 26-yard field goal, but Darrel Gray blocked the kick.
An exchange of punts left the Cats backed up to their 4, but they covered the 96 yards in 12 plays. Quan Warley had a 17-yard run, and Horn completed a 10-yard pass to Williams, who also had a 10-yard run. A 24-yard TD run by Williams extended the margin to 21-0 with 2:51 remaining in the half.
Racing the clock following a punt, Horn completed passes of 10 yards to James, 11 yards to Pittman and 15 yards to Garland. Horn’s 14-yard TD pass to James with six seconds on the clock sent WCU to the dressing room up 28-0.
The defenses were in control most of the second half.
The only score was a 4-yard TD pass from Hearns to Josh Cockrell with 7:12 to play in the game. Andrew Bathiany kicked the extra point.
The Cats missed a scoring opportunity when Bostic’s 40-yard field goal was blocked by Curtis John late in the third quarter.
Western’s Quintin Phillips was in on 10 tackles.
A.J. Baker led the Hawks with seven.
Shorter WCU
6 First Downs 27
32-109 Rushes-Yds. 33-167
5-10-0 Passing 30-43-0
33 Passing Yds. 310
8-47.0 Punts-Avg. 3-49.3
2-0 Fumbles-Lost 2-0
8-60 Penalties-Yds. 4-51
Shorter 0 0 0 0 0
WCU 14 14 0 7 35
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