The Catawba notebook ...
The big question going into Saturday’s regular season finale at Lenoir-Rhyne is simple.
Will Mitch Ellis play?
Ellis hurt his left knee during last week’s 24-13 win at Mars Hill. The Catawba quarterback was forced out of the pocket and was tackled by Matt Carter out of bounds with 5:18 left in the third quarter.
He actually tried to come back but only for one series. That series, however, ended up as the only scoring drive in the second half for Catawba.
“It started hurting more,” Ellis said. “I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to hurt the team.”
In fact, when he went out, Catawba did not throw another pass. With an 11-point lead, coach David Bennett decided to play clock-control football.
Ellis was on crutches afterward and has been rehabbing hard this week. One morning, he got up early and was working with the trainers for three hours before class.
“Mitch is not 100 percent,” Bennett said Tuesday during his weekly press conference at Western Steer.
“We have complete confidence in three other quarterbacks,” Bennett said of Scott Sensing, Bret Brown and Tim Rigsbee.
Bennett is redshirting two freshmen in Luke Samples of East Wilkes and Antwain Hillary or South Carolina.
“It’s just like any other position,” Bennett explained. “You move down to the next guy. That’s why it’s a team.”
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PASSINGFANCY: Before Ellis went out of the game, he threw perhaps his most beautiful pass of the season.
Catawba had gone 68 yards in seven plays late in the first half and found itself on the Mars Hill 12. Ellis rolled to his left, looking for Ryan Millwood, who was cutting across the middle of the end zone.
He waited and waited and waited and just before he was hit, zipped a pass between two defenders for the score. That made it 17-7 at halftime.
“Mitch felt the pressure and made a beautiful throw,” said Bennett. “He had to hold the ball a little longer to give Millwood time to get open.”
Bennett said all you’ll hear is Ellis-to-Millwood but pointed out the job by the offensive linemen, especially tight end Sean Pearson, who made a great block on Mars Hill’s star linebacker Khalid Abdullah.
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WE’LLBOUNCEBACK: The defense seemed almost embarrassed by its play against Mars Hill.
“There was no more the coaches could do,” said linebacker Shawn McBride. “They made good calls, we just had to execute. And we weren’t making the plays until the end.”
Defensive end Radell Lockhart said there was no letdown after a close win at Carson-Newman.
“No, Mars Hill had a good game plan,” he said. “We knew they’d give it their best shot.”
“It was more us than them,” lamented linebacker Shawn Sanders. “We made mistakes.”
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FRANTICFOURTH: It certainly seemed like the defense spent the entire fourth quarter defending its goal. Mars Hill would apparently score and there would be a penalty. The Lions would apparently score and there would be a penalty. Then, they wouldn’t score but Catawba would be called for a penalty.
“We’d think we stopped them and they’d get a first down,” said safety Dyran Peake. “Then, we’d stop them and get a late hit called. I didn’t know whether to celebrate or settle down and play.”
But despite keeping the ball for 18 of the second half’s 30 minutes and outrushing and outpassing the Indians, penalties and big plays by Catawba’s defense kept the Lions from scoring more than once in the second half.
“They weren’t getting frustrated because they knew they could move the ball on us, which, of course, they did,” said Sanders.”We need to prepare hard for next week and not come out so flat.”
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BEARHUG: And next week’s opponent? Top rival Lenoir-Rhyne (2-4, 6-4).
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FAMILIARFACES: There were a few Mars Hill players with area ties.
From Davie County, Zeke Earle and Michael Burton are redshirting. Earle is listed as a defensive back and Burton as a quarterback.
Josh Almond of Mount Pleasant is a freshman wide receiver while Gene Mullis of Concord is a starting offensive lineman.
In fact, Mullis had the duty of blocking Catawba’s All-American defensive end DeVonte Peterson. And while Peterson harrassed quarterback Carlos Gatlin, Mullis helped hold him to just two tackles.
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OFFENSE: The Catawba staff chose Cedric Squirewell as the offensive player of the week. Squirewell equaled a career high with five catches for 102 yards and a score. He also set up another with a grab inside the Mars Hill 20.
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DEFENSE:Radell Lockhart won the defensive award. He was in on nine tackles and had a sack. He had six quarterback pressures.
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HE’SSPECIAL: Matt Gross was special teams player of the week, after kicking a 42-yard field goal and three extra points. He has hit on 26 straight PATs and 10 of his last 11 field goals.
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HE’S REALLYSPECIAL: When Gross kicked the winning field goal to beat Carson-Newman a week earlier, his heroics did not go unnoticed.
He was named National Special Teams Player of the Week in Division II.
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RANKINGS: It’s the last week and an important week for national and regional rankings. Things could be shaken up.
Catawba is still No. 1 in the South Region, followed by West Georgia, Valdosta State and Tuskegee. Delta State is 9-1 and fifth with Presbyterian (8-2) sixth.
But West Georgia (10-0) plays Valdosta State (9-1) and Delta State plays Arkansas-Monticello (8-2), which is ninth.
Nationally, Catawba is ranked third in the AFCA poll.
Once-mighty Carson-Newman has fallen to seventh in the South and 10th in the nationally polls.
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AROUNDTHESAC:Tusculum quarterback Caleb Slover (416 yards passing, three touchdowns), Presbyterian’s Shawn Payne (nine tackles) and Gross were the SAC players of the week. ... Winners were Carson-Newman, who beat Wingate 56-13, Presbyterian, who nipped Tusculum 27-24 and Lenoir-Rhyne, who toppled Newberry 37-14. ... This week, Wingate plays at Tennessee-Martin, Tusculum visits Mars Hill and Newberry travels to Presbyterian.
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WIGWAMWISPS: Catawba won its 15th straight regular season game. ... The win was Bennett’s 50th of his head coaching career. ... Before leaving with his injury, Ellis threw for 177 yards. ... Three defensive backs led in tackles, led by Peake with 14, Corey Reese with 13 and Jermonte Battle with eight. ... The Indians can complete the first undefeated and untied regular season in school history since the 1909 team, which went 2-0. ... A win against Lenoir-Rhyne would give Catawba its first outright title.
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Ronnie Gallagher covers the Catawba Indians for the Post.
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