Salisbury Post Online:  Local news, weather, sports and more!
Serving historic Rowan County, North Carolina since 1905.

An unhappy ending for Catawba

BY MIKE LONDON
SALISBURY POST

Catawba fell 28-25 to the Eagles Saturday in a quarterfinal game in the Division II playoffs that will have Tribe players and coaches and fans talking wouldas, shouldas and couldas around the campfire all winter.

“We had a great chance to have a great day,” said Catawba head coach David Bennett. “But we didn’t get it done.”

Bennett said roughly the same thing on Oct. 2 after Carson-Newman overcame a 17-0 deficit to beat the Tribe 28-17 at the Eagles’ orange-splashed Burke-Tarr Stadium.

Right now, despite all the strides that Bennett and his staff have made with the Catawba program, Carson-Newman has the Tribe’s number. Carson-Newman’s mascot is the Eagle not the Camel, but this SACbeast has a hump that the Tribe just can’t get over.

The numbers are scary. Carson-Newman coach Ken Sparks has now won 19 of 21 games against Catawba. And it will be headline news if the Eagles ever lose another game at their Jefferson City nest. They haven’t lost a regular season game since 1993 and haven’t lost to a SAC opponent in their house since 1987.

The Tribe came close to making history Saturday. It came ever so close. It scored three touchdowns so fast in the second half that it scared the wings off the Eagles and their faithful flock of fans, whose hoots of “Warm up the bus!” turned to whines of “Somebody do something!” in one huge hurry.

In fact, if Catawba kicker Matt Gross’ late field goal attempt doesn’t fall short of the posts, the two rivals might have still been going at it at midnight.

Quarterback Mitch Ellis had an amazing afternoon for the Tribe. He tossed four touchdown passes and threw for a school-record 386 yards. Catawba receiver RyanMillwood had an equally amazing day. He made three TD grabs.

Unfortunately, Catawba’s line play was not nearly as amazing.

Ellis’ protection broke down early and often and he spent much of the first three quarters running for his life. Then there was Catawba’s usually magnificent defensive front, which was riddled by the Eagles (12-0) for 192 ground yards in the first half. Catawba’s defense yields 56 rushing yards per game. Somehow, Eagle Melvin Oates rushed for 206 yards by himself. Most of it right up the gut.

“It was ridiculous,” said Tribe linebacker Jason Cross. “We couldn’t even stop the dive play.”

But the numbers didn’t lie.

Things started well enough for Catawba (11-2), which scored just a minute after taking possession for the first time. That score was the result of a magnificent effort by Millwood, who was on a mission after dropping a touchdown last week.

He slanted across the middle, then reached high to pull in a hurried Ellis pass. He ran by several defenders, then dragged the last two would-be tacklers into the end zone for a 47-yard scoring play.

Catawba led 6-0, but Gross’ PAT attempt was blocked. That mistake, which seemed unimportant in the euphoria of the quick score, would haunt the Tribe.

Catawba’s defense played well early, stopping the Eagles on their first two possessions.

But a great punt pinned the Tribe deep, and Carson-Newman used the ensuing field position to grab a 7-6 lead. Then, early in the second quarter, the Eagles took advantage of a short punt for a 14-6 lead.

The key play of the half and perhaps the game came on Catawba’s next possession.

On third-and-2 at the Eagle 38, Ellis spotted Eagle cornerback Chris Butler one-on-one with Tribe receiver O.J. Lennon and lofted the ball toward the end zone.

At the 2, Butler and Lennon went airborne. They returned to earth writhing and wrestling for possession. Both had their hands around the ball. It appeared to be a simultaneous catch by both men, and simultaneous possession, by rule, goes to the offense.

But instead of Catawba getting the ball on the Eagle 2, the officiating crew interpreted the play as an interception by Butler.

It was a call that enraged Bennett, and had him joking after the game (although not with a smile on his face) about leaving coaching to become an official so such travesties would stop happening.

Butler offered his own version of what happened.

“Oh, I definitely caught the ball,” he said. “After that, O.J. put his hands on it.”

The play was a momentum-turner, deflating the Tribe for the rest of the half. And the Eagles, took full advantage, pounding the ball 98 yards for a 21-6 lead.

Catawba got Gross in position for a long field goal try as the first half ended, but it was a portent of future doom. His kick fell short.

Catawba went down 28-6 late in the third quarter and despite some halftime adjustments that led to better protection for Ellis and better luck at stopping the Eagles’ ground onslaught, the game appeared to be over.

“That’s what Carson-Newman had to be thinking,” said Bennett. “Any team would have.”

But the Tribe was far from done.

“This team has heart,” said Millwood. “We weren’t going to go down quietly.”

A scrambling Ellis, who refused to go down, quickly led Catawba down the field. He hit Millwood on a slant for a touchdown to make it 28-12 with 1:38 left in the third quarter.

Carson-Newman then missed a field goal and a sizzling Ellis responded by finding an open Nick Means for another six points. Now, it was 28-18 with 12:58 still to play. But Catawba failed on another 2-point conversion try and still trailed by 10.

“That block on that first extra point got us in a hole,” said Bennett. “We kept having to go for two.”

Twos were tough to come by, but suddenly sixes weren’t.

The Tribe defense grabbed a fumble and handed the ball back to Ellis. This time he located Millwood in the corner of the end zone to make it 28-24. Gross kicked the point, pulling the surging Tribe within a field goal with plenty of time left.

Catawba had scored three TDs in five minutes, and Burke-Tarr was having a fit.

“We started playing wide open with nothing to lose and the momentum all went our way,” said Bennett.

It continued. Reeling Carson-Newman fumbled again with 6:16 remaining and Danny McLeod recovered for the Tribe.

“We just kept giving them hope,” said Sparks. “Every time. It was unbelievable.”

And now, it was time for Catawba to make a statement. It was time for a new SAC king to be crowned.

Didn’t happen.

Cedric Squirewell made a catch that would have put Catawba on the Eagle 7, but a holding call (which sent Bennett hurtling into the air like Michael Jordan) pushed Catawba back.

Finally it was third-and-12 at the 27 and Ellis looked once more for Millwood. This time, though, Butler had him blanketed. Millwood reached and got one hand on the ball, but it dropped tantalizingly to the ground.

“Butler had to make that play,” said Millwood. “He was frustrated. He wasn’t talking nearly as much as he did in that first game.”

On fourth-and-12, with 4:18 left, Bennett had to call upon Gross to tie the game with a 45-yard field goal.

“Matt’s confidence is down some,” said Bennett. “But you give a kid a chance in that situation.”

Gross took his shot, but came up short.

Catawba had already expended its timeouts, so now all the Eagles had to do was pound out one first down and run out the clock. They did just that to advance to a semifinal game with Northeast Oklahoma next Saturday.

“We burned our timeouts on confusions,” said Ellis. “At the end, there wasn’t a thing we could do. It was a shame.I’d trade the records for a chance to practice on Monday. Just for a chance to keep on playing.”

The Tribe won’t play again this year, but Bennett promised a return to glory next season.

“We’ll be back,” he said. “We’re going to have a mighty good football team.”