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GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — DeVonte Peterson, all 6-foot-4, 285 pounds of man, slowly walked off the field, his T-shirt soaked with sweat from a day of pushing and shoving and grunting in the trenches.
Twenty yards away, Mitch Ellis talked quietly with reporters, his body slumping from a day of being chased and knocked around.
But they were smiling. Tired smiles, but smiles just the same.
It was that kind of day for the Catawba Indians football team Saturday afternoon. It had traveled across state lines for a Tennessee Toughman Contest and came away with an intense, punch-for-punch, 24-19 South Atlantic Conference victory over Tusculum.
The Indians (6-0, 3-0) stopped a hot Pioneer club, which entered the game 5-1 and riding a four-game winning streak.
Did the sixth-ranked Division IIteam in the nation think it had dodged a bullet?
Ellis didn’t think so. “Give credit to Tusculum,” said the savvy senior quarterback, whose 19-yard scoring strike to Cedric Squirewell turned out to be the winning points. “They’ve got a good defense. They came ready to play.”
Ryan Norman didn’t think so. “They have a great offense,” said the defensive back who scored the game’s first touchdown on a 21-yard interception return.
And of course, Catawba coach David Bennett didn’t think so.
“We didn’t dodge a dadgum bullet,” Bennett barked. “All you’ve got to do is look at their dadgum record. We beat a good football team, that’s what the heck we did.”
And the Indians needed every single one of those 60 minutes to do it.
Catawba was clinging to a precarious 17-12 lead when Arnold Gaither let a long pass slip off his fingers, forcing a punt. The defense stopped the Pioneers — naturally — and a 51-yard punt by The Bionic Leg, Paul Czerniak, pinned the Indians on their own 22.
That’s when experience won out for Catawba.
And Frankie DeBusk’s Pioneers were penalized for being young.
Literally. In rapid succession, they chauffered the Indians toward the end zone.
On first down, a late hit resulted in 15 yards. The next play saw a pass interference call. Fifteen more. An offsides penalty was followed by a dead ball, personal foul. Just like that, Catawba was inside the Tusculum 15.
The Indians eventually faced a third-and-15 from the Tusculum 19 when Ellis found Squirewell on the five. The 5-foot-11 sophomore twisted his way into the end zone for a 24-12 advantage with 8:53 remaining.
The gutsy Ellis completed the pass despite being pummeled by a blitzing Pioneer.
“Mitch stood in real good right there,” praised Bennett. “And Cedric did a good job of getting it into the end zone.”
“I was fortunate to get the ball over the guy’s outstretched arms,” Ellis said of the Pioneer blitzer. “I took a pretty good shot. I felt like I was taking shots all day. But it was a good catch and a good call by the coach.”
DeBusk’s quarterback, Caleb Slover, turned DeBusk’s scowl to a grin four minutes later when, on a fourth-and-one from the Catawba 48, he reared back and stunned the Indians with a long scoring pass to Mel Willis. Just like that, it was a five-point game.
Czerniak tried an onsides kick but Marcus Hicks recovered with 4:03 left.
On a third-and-four, Ellis zipped a pass to Nick Means for five yards, forcing Tusculum to start calling timeouts. With 57 seconds left, Catawba faced a fourth-and-one on the Tusculum 24.
And guess what? The Pioneers were called for encroachment, giving the Indians the first down and the game.
“If we showed a little more discipline on the football field,” DeBusk lectured his team afterward, “we could’ve won this game. We lost this game because of penalties.”
When DeBusk dissects the film, there will be at least three plays he watches and replays over and over and over.
The first occurred after Catawba’s Matt Gross, who has a bionic leg of his own, and Czerniak boomed 43 and 40-yard field goals. Slover threw long but Norman picked it off and sailed in untouched for a 10-3 Indian lead.
“I was reading the quarterback, saw him going to my side, backpedaled and played the ball,” said Norman, who gave credit to the defensive line for the pressure it put on Slover. “Then, I just read my blocks.”
A play both coaches will watch produced the next points early in the third quarter. Danny Jenkins had his punt blocked by Jahmaal Nelson and as Bennett looked on in horror, the ball bounced toward the end zone. The only players nearby were Jenkins and three black Tusculum jerseys.
But somehow, Jenkins squeezed the ball. Instead of seven, Tusculum just got two and trailed 10-5.
“That was a big turning point in the game,” sighed DeBusk, glancing up at the final score.“If we get seven instead of two, the ballgame’s tied. But the ball bounced funny today.”
Especially on the ensuing free kick. No one from Tusculum bothered to field Brian Roberson’s boot and David Hamilton alertly fell on the ball at the Tusculum 29. It led to Kevin McKenzie’s eight-yard run and a 17-5 lead.
“I couldn’t believe it,” exclaimed Hamilton of the free ball. “I guess I was just playing off instincts.”
It left DeBusk disheartened.
“That play just killed us,” DeBusk said. “We got three points on the board early but we needed more. We knew what kind of defensive football team they have.”
With all of the drama, most of the drained fans forgot about a combined six turnovers (three fumbles by Catawba) and 24 penalties for 170 yards.
“We played terrible,” said Ellis, “but we came out with a win. That’s a sign of a good team.”
A good, tough team.
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NOTES: Watch for Catawba to move up in the regional and national polls this week. Carson-Newman was upset 44-42 Saturday by Presbyterian. ... Tusculum was held to three yards rushing. ... McKenzie had 99 yards on 28 carries. ... Norman had another interception in the second quarter. ... Catawba had the ball for 37 minutes to Tusculum’s 22. ... Means had seven catches and Squirewell four (for 84 yards). ... Darris Morris, Shawn Sanders and Radell Lockhart had sacks. ... Todd McComb led the way with nine tackles. ... Catawba is off next week while Tusculum plays Tennessee neighbor Carson-Newman.
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