Box Score
| |
Photo by Geoff Anderson
| FIU running
back Rashod Smith led the Golden
Panthers with 94 yards on 17 carries
and a touchdown of 59 yards, Saturday
night against Carson-Newman. |
|
In the highest scoring game in the brief
history of FIU Football, Division II’s
No. 3-ranked Carson-Newman (4-0) won a 55-33
slugfest over the Golden Panthers, Saturday
night at FIU Stadium.
The Eagles, who came into the contest averaging
38.7 points a contest, controlled the ball
for 36:32 and raced for 525 yards of total
offense, 416 of which came on a ground game
that featured the option and veer attack.
J.J. Chatmon led all rushers
with 137 yards on 20 of Carson-Newman’s
72 running plays. Kiel Angry
rushed for another 87 yards and scored two
of C-N’s five running touchdowns. Eagles’
quarterback Shane Kelley
completed six-of-nine passes for 109 yards
and another score.
“We had a week to prepare for a team
that ran the veer offense and obviously, we
weren’t prepared for it,” said
FIU head coach Don Strock.
“[Carson-Newman] ran what they wanted
to and they ran it right down our throats.
They have scored 76 points in the first half
of their first three games, and now it’s
107. Hopefully, we don’t play anymore
veer teams the rest of the year.”
Down 14-0 late in the first quarter, FIU
(0-4) used a 59-yard run by Rashod
Smith to get on the scoreboard at
14-6 with three minutes remaining in the frame.
But the second quarter was all Carson-Newman
and the Eagles grabbed a 31-6 lead at the
intermission.
The FIU defense stiffened in the third quarter,
allowing only a C-N field goal by Angel
Gonzalez from 41 yards while the
Golden Panthers went long again, this time
a 51-yard hookup from quarterback Josh
Padrick to Cory McKinney.
The grab made McKinney the first FIU receiver
ever to surpass 1,000 yards in the air, now
with 1,069 after catching three balls for
76 yards and a pair of TDs.
The two teams traded touchdowns to open the
fourth quarter, and after a Greg Moss
99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, the
Golden Panthers found themselves down 41-20
with nearly 11 minutes remaining to play.
After a defensive stop, the Golden Panthers
looked to score again with the ball on the
C-N 25 yard line. But Deonte Bolden
picked off a Padrick pass at the 19-yard line
and raced 81 yards for a touchdown that sealed
the victory.
FIU would score twice more to close the deficit,
the last when Moss fielded a punt and returned
it 86 yards for a touchdown. Moss goes down
in the Golden Panthers record book as the
first player in the program’s short
history to ever score on a kick off and a
punt return.
Padrick ended the game completing 12-of-28
passes for 164 yards with two touchdowns and
a pair of interceptions. David Tabor
who came in and directed two drives in the
second quarter, finished up going four-for-five
for 52 yards. The quarterback tandem was sacked
four times.
FIU played without the services of three
starters--running back Diamos Demerritt,
defensive end Daunte Foster
and free safety Nick Turnbull--and
back-up linebacker Gerrod Bodie
who were suspended for violating team and
university policies,“for this game and
we’ll see for how many more,”
said Strock after the game.
The Golden Panthers must regroup in a hurry
as they take to the road next weekend for
a date against I-AA No. 16-ranked Georgia
Southern on Oct. 4, in Statesboro. FIU returns
home on Thursday, Oct. 9 against Stephen F.
Austin.
