SEWANEE, Tenn. – The Birmingham-Southern football team got back in the win column after a hard-fought win at Sewanee on Saturday. After struggling the past couple of weeks, the Panthers offense was on fire against the Tigers.
On the opening play from scrimmage for Sewanee, BSC's
Conner Thornburg forced a fumble to give the Panthers the ball at the Sewanee 25 yard line.
Kobe Hughes then punched it in from 19 yards out to give the Panthers an early 6-0 lead. On the next possession for the Tigers, the first play of the drive saw Sewanee take a 7-6 lead after a 75-yard touchdown run. Sewanee then extended their lead to 14-6 after scoring on their following drive as well.
The Panthers started their next drive at the Sewanee 40 at the beginning of the second quarter. A nice drive by BSC was then capped off by
Kobe Hughes' second touchdown of the day on a seven yard run.
Matt McClary then completed his pass to
Hayden Morton in the end zone for the two-point conversion to tie the game at 14. After a couple of stops by the Panther defense, the offense would take over at their own 37 with 6:49 left in the half. A couple of big completions to
Thomas Speed led the Panthers down the field, and
KyHeim Montford punched it in from a yard out to give the Panthers a 22-14 lead. Sewanee then scored on a long QB run by Thomas to tie the game at 22 at the break.
To open the second half, Sewanee had an impressive drive and ended up with 1st and goal from the BSC 1 yard line. The BSC defense made three impressive stops, but Thomas ultimately pushed the ball over the goal line for his second rushing TD of the game. Sewanee elected to not go for two and took a 29-22 lead. The opening drive of the third quarter by BSC saw four consecituve
Kobe Hughes runs for nine, nine, nine, and a loss of 3 yards. On 3rd and 4 from the Sewanee 49,
Thomas Speed took the screen from
Matt McClary 51 yards to the house to put BSC within one.
Kobe Hughes then ran in the two-point conversion to give the Panthers a 30-29 with 7:04 left in the quarter. The BSC defense came up with a couple of big stops to preserve the lead through the third period.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the BSC defense forced Sewanee to punt to give the ball back to the offense. Starting from their own 24, McClary and the rushing attack led the Panthers down the field once again. At the Sewanee 22 yard line, McClary threw a dime to tight end
Owen Phillips to stretch the lead. Phillips would then receive the two-point conversion to make it a two-score game. On the following drive, the Tigers would move the ball down the field inside the BSC 20 yard line. The Panthers would then come up with a huge stop to force a field goal. The score remained in favor of the Panthers at 38-32 with 3:41 to go.
The Panthers were forced to punt the ball back to the Tigers, but
Cole Porch boomed one inside the 5 yard line for a 57 yarder to push Sewanee towards their own end zone. On the second play of the drive, BSC forced a fumble on the scramble from Thomas, and
Joey Kiernan recovered to solidify the win for BSC 38-32. The Panthers got a much needed win on the road.
Records
Birmingham-Southern 2-4 (1-3 SAA), Sewanee 3-2 (2-1 SAA).
Up Next
The Panthers next game is back at home for homecoming on Saturday, Oct. 14. Kickoff is set for 2:00 p.m.
