Football drops road SAC contest at Tusculum

Greeneville, Tenn. —- The Catawba College football team suffered five first-half turnovers in their 35-21 loss at Tusculum in South Atlantic Conference play at Pioneer Field Saturday afternoon.

TEAM STATS

- Tusculum recorded 23 first downs to Catawba's 21

- The Pioneers out-gained Catawba 455-398

- Catawba held the advantage in the passing game 312-226, while TU won the battle on the ground 229-86

- Tusculum was 8-of-13 on third down, while Catawba was 7-of-16

- The Catawba Indians committed five turnovers but forced two interceptions and two fumbles defensively

- Catawba won the time of possession battle 32:52 to 27:08

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

- Bo Pryor was impressive once again, hauling in 13 passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns, increasing his SAC-leading receiving yards and touchdown totals to 451 and 7, respectively

- Preston Brown threw for over 300 yards in his third straight game, going 31-of-52 for 312 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions

- Marquece Williams had a team-high 55 yards on 15 carries and a rushing touchdown

- Jordan Mitchell recorded five catches for 55 yards

- Khalil Stimpson made a game-high 15 tackles, while Jakarri Martin II added 13

- Deno Wardlow had six tackles and intercepted a pass; Juice Martin also had a pick on the game

- Christian Bennett added six tackles and forced a fumble

- Chase Rogers and Anton Popov recovered fumbles for Catawba

- Vraj Patel averaged 42.8 yards per punt and downed two inside the 20

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST QUARTER

- Tusculum intercepted Brown on the second play from scrimmage

- After Catawba forced a punt on a short field, the Pioneers forced a fumble on the second play of the ensuing drive

- TU capitalized on this turnover, as Tyreik Thorpe caught a six-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Palazzo to take the early 7-0 lead

- After the sides traded punts, Juice Martin intercepted a pass to set Catawba up in enemy territory

- Catawba caught a pass to get down in the red zone, but fumbled again for their third turnover of the opening quarter

SECOND QUARTER

- TU's Jalen Hunt scored on a run from 24 yards out to double the Pioneer lead

- After Catawba drove to roughly midfield, Tusculum's Andrae Robinson intercepted Brown

- Palazzo plunged into the end zone from one yard out to help Tusculum to a 21-0 lead

- Brown was intercepted yet again on the following possession

THIRD QUARTER

- Wardlow intercepted Palazzo on the opening drive of the second half

- Brown found Pryor for a 49-yard touchdown strike to get Catawba on the board just five minutes into the half

- The Pioneers answered with a 14-play, 74-yard touchdown drive to return the lead to three scores

FOURTH QUARTER

- Williams scored in the opening minute of the fourth quarter to cut Catawba's deficit to 28-14

- Palazzo answered with a 47-yard touchdown to Joe Robustelli to return the TU lead to 35-14

- Pryor found the end zone for the second time on the afternoon on the next drive on a six-yard catch

- The Pioneers drove into Catawba territory, but Bennett's fumble gave Catawba the ball back down two scores with just over five minutes to go

- Catawba was unable to convert a 4th and 28 on their final drive of the game

UP NEXT

- Catawba returns to Shuford Stadium next Saturday, hosting Emory & Henry for Family Weekend

- Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.