College football: Catawba vs. Limestone preview box

Published 9:24 pm Friday, October 7, 2016

LIMESTONE (3-2) at CATAWBA (2-3)
Shuford Stadium — Today, 1:30 p.m.

Radio: WSAT 1280 AM

COACHES: Limestone — Ohio native Mike Furrey played as a freshman walk-on at Ohio State before transferring to Northern Iowa and setting records as a receiver. He then had an interesting NFL career, starting games on both sides of the ball at receiver and safety. He made 221 receptions in the NFL. Furrey’s coaching career began a Kentucky Christian in 2010. The led to a job as receivers coach at Marshall. He was introduced as Limestone’s new head coach last May. Catawba — Curtis Walker (Class of 1992 at Catawba) is in his fourth season and is 23-16. Walker is 1-0 against Limestone.

LAST WEEK: Limestone lost, 48-26, at home to Wingate. Everything went wrong for Catawba in a 35-14 setback at Newberry.

SERIES: Last year was the first meeting of the schools in football.

LAST SEASON: The teams played in poor weather conditions in front of 200 fans at “The Reservation” in Gaffney, S.C., and Catawba had its hands full before prevailing, 10-3. Catawba had 12 passing yards and rushed for only 112 on a miserable day.

WORTH MENTIONING: Limestone competes in Conference Carolinas in most sports, but that’s a non-football conference. Limestone is an independent in football. Limestone has a scheduling agreement with the South Atlantic Conference through 2018, so the Saints play all seven SAC teams each year. Limestone has beaten Lenoir-Rhyne and lost a close one to Mars Hill. Limestone’s other two wins have come against Shaw and Benedict.

Limestone has scored six defensive touchdowns this season.
Limestone games have been filled with turnovers. The Saints have 17 takeaways, but they’ve also lost the ball 13 times.

Catawba safety Chris Carpenter said the Indians are preparing to defend another mobile quarterback this week and are looking for more consistent tackling. Ivan Corbin, a freshman, from Georgia, has thrown nine TD passes, but he’s also tossed eight interceptions.

Catawba hopes to kick off more frequently this week. Lee Brackman, a Georgia native who kicks off for the Indians, is one of the brighter members of the squad. He’s a bio-chemistry major. Brackman also pushes placekicker Brennan Lambert every day in practice.

WATCH FOR: The weather forecast is gloomy. With Mike Sheehan recovering from ankle surgery, sophomore Reid Carlton will be making his first start at quarterback for the Indians. If the weather is poor, the Indians will rely heavily on the power running of Eamon Smart.
It’s a must-win for the Indians if they’re going to achieve their season goals, but that’s going to be the case every Saturday from now until the end of the season.

Limestone gets contributions from three local players. Junior linebacker Logan Stoodley (West Rowan) got hurt in the opener and missed several games, but he returned to make 12 tackles against Wingate last week. … Junior Heath Nail (Davie) is listed as the backup center for the Saints, while true freshman Sawyer Kimmer (East Rowan) is the top backup at left tackle.