Presbyterian Holds on to beat N.C. Central, 28-24

CLINTON, S.C. – North Carolina Central fumbled on the one-yard line with 39 seconds left in the game and Presbyterian College picked up its second consecutive victory with a 28-24 win over North Carolina Central on Saturday afternoon at Bailey Memorial Stadium.

PC never trailed in Saturday’s victory over North Carolina Central, but almost everyone in attendance but the Blue Hose thought that the Eagles were going to net the go-ahead touchdown after having perched themselves at the one-yard line.

The Blue Hose defense stood tall though, opportunistically picking up NCCU quarterback Michael Johnson’s bobbled snap off the carpet to earn the win. PC’s Bryan McDaniel (Sumter, S.C./Sumter) claimed the loose football, holding on for dear life at the bottom of the scrum.

The Eagles had obtained the position on a 37-yard pass across the middle from Johnson to DeShawn Spears at the PC 19-yard line. Tony McCord then ran the ball 18 yards to the PC one-yard line.

The Blue Hose took a timeout to gather their defense and the ploy by Coach Bobby Bentley and Defensive Coordinator Phil Magdic worked with McDaniel acquiring the loose football.

PC starting quarterback Brandon Miley (Wilmington, N.C./J.T. Hoggard) was then able to kneel down for the victory to give him a victory in his first career start as the Blue Hose signal caller.

S.J. Worrell (Madison, Ga./Morgan County) led the Blue Hose in the victory, earning PC’s first 100-yard rushing game of 2008 with his 107 net yards on 22 rushes. Worrell also had two touchdowns on the ground in the game to mark the first two touchdown rushing game of 2008 for the Blue Hose.

Worrell now has four 100-yard rushing games to his credit in his career. The 107 yards accumulated by Worrell in the win over the Eagles marked the first time that he had tallied 100 yards on the ground since picking up 113 yards rushing in PC’s game with Charleston Southern to close out the 2008 season.

Worrell finished with 136 all-purpose yards in the game as he also had five catches for 29 yards.

Miley proved he was up to the challenge in the win over NCCU by rushing for a team second-best 62 yards on 16 carries. He threw for another 148 yards, completing 13 of his passes. He threw for one touchdown.

PC’s Adam McKinney (Augusta, Ga./Augusta Christian) entered the NCCU game with the most sacks in the Big South Conference. McKinney illustrated why in the victory over the Eagles, acquiring a game-high two sacks. McKinney had six tackles overall.

Antwan Thomas (Hawkinsville, Ga./Hawkinsville) finished with the most tackles in the game on either side. Thomas had nine total tackles, including seven solo stops.

NCCU’s Johnson finished the game for starting quarterback Keon Williams. He was 8-for-9 for 159 yards and two touchdowns overall.

The Blue Hose opened the game by scoring the first points of the contest for the fifth time in their seven games. Miley got things going for PC when he rushed up the middle from one yard out for his career rushing touchdown with 10:40 left in the first quarter.

The Eagles’ George Mobley was able to square the game at 7-7 with 43 seconds left in the first quarter when he scooted in from two yards out.

That would be the closest the Eagles would get as Worrell registered the first of his two touchdowns with 10:53 left in the first half. NCCU would cut PC’s lead to 14-10 at half when Brandon Gilbert was able to knock in a 43-yard field goal.

PC did something in the third quarter against NCCU it had not done all season when the Blue Hose were able to score a touchdown on a Worrell run with 10:12 left in the third quarter. Worrell’s touchdown marked the first time in 2008 that PC had netted any points in the third quarter.

Sam Wilson (Mountville, S.C./Clinton) helped the Blue Hose to pick up even more points in the third quarter when he caught his first touchdown of 2008 on a 44-yard pass from Miley. After Bryson Summers’ (West Columbia, S.C./Airport) extra point it gave PC a 28-10 lead.

The Eagles scored twice more to cut the Blue Hose lead to four in the waning minutes, but McDaniel was able to preserve the win with the fumble recovery.

The win over NCCU improves the Blue Hose to 3-4. PC is now 2-0 all-time against the Eagles.

PC will take on its first Big South Conference opponent next week when it travels to Boiling Springs, N.C. to take on Gardner-Webb at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18.