CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The #10 ranked Shepherd University Rams came to UC Stadium Saturday afternoon and got all they could handle from the Golden Eagles, but Charleston would come up short in their upset bid, dropping a tough 24-15 decision on UC's Homecoming.
UC got the scoring started in the first quarter with a 27-yard field goal from
Bret Benes (West Palm Beach, Fl) that gave Charleston the early 3-0 lead. The Golden Eagle defense was dominant the first 15 minutes allowing just 28 total yards to the Rams.
John Knox (Salisbury,NC) connected with
Jordan Paul (Brooklyn, NY) three times in the quarter including a 40 yard deep ball that set up the Charleston score.
Shepherd evened the score at 3-3 on their first possession of the second quarter when Ryan Earls converted a 33-yard field goal attempt for the Rams. UC's offense wasn't able to get going in the second, going three-and-out on all four of its possessions. The scored stood at 3-3 going into the locker room at the half.
Charleston's defense continued its strong performance into the third quarter but the Ram offense finally broke through for a score midway into the quarter when Jeff Ziemba found Dalton Boyd in the back of the end zone from 29 yards out that put Shepherd up 10-3. The Ram defense frustrated the Golden Eagle offense keeping them off the scoreboard in the third, with Charleston trailing 10-3 going into the final 15 minutes.
After a slow three quarters of football, the Ram offense found its stride early in the fourth scoring touchdowns on consecutive possessions to push its lead out to 24-3. There was no quit in the Golden Eagles today though, as
Torie Wagner (Severn, MD) returned a Ram kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown to narrow the Shepherd lead to 24-9. After swapping three-and-outs UC's special teams came up big again, this time
Logan Cox (Mineral Wells, WV) took advantage of a
Zach Hadlock (Norwalk, CA) blocked field goal, scooping up the ball and returning it 67 yards for another Golden Eagle score.
Trailing 24-15, UC stopped the Rams and had one last chance to cut into the Shepherd lead but penalties killed the possession and at the final whistle Charleston would fall to the #10 ranked Rams, 24-15.
UC could only gain 123 yards on 45 plays on the stifling Ram defense, picking up just five first downs on the day. Jordan Paul had a productive day from the wide receiver position totaling 100 yards on six catches. Charleston's defense had an outstanding day, sacking the Rams six times and had 11 tackles for loss.
Matt Duncan (Jonesborough, TN) had 16 tackles for the Golden Eagles including a sack and
Isaiah Gibson (Hampton, VA) totaled nine tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss and forced a fumble.
Torie Wagner continues to be a special teams ace for Charleston, scoring his second return touchdown of the year.
Shepherd improves to 5-0, 5-0 in conference play, while Charleston drops to 4-1, 3-1. The Golden Eagles make a trip to Glenville next Saturday to take on the Pioneers.
