After falling to Furman on their last outing and sitting out last Saturday with a bye week, head coach Harold Nichols and the Blue Hose were eager to get back on the field and redeem themselves Saturday. Unfortunately though, it was not meant to be as PC would fall to the visiting 49ers, 45-21 in front of a packed house at Bailey Memorial Stadium as PC students welcomed their parents to town for Family Weekend.

PC had a solid start to the game jumping out to the early lead via a 1-yard run by Blue Hose quarterback Kaleb Griffin. A successful Brett Wilson PAT made it 7-0 Blue Hose with 7:14 remaining in the 1st quarter. Charlotte would respond with a touchdown drive of their own in a 10 -play, 75 yard drive that ended with a 3-yard Austin Duke pass to Matt Johnson for the score.

PC answered the call on their next drive and Kaleb Griffin would connect with wide outs Tobi Antigha and Arthur Williams on an impressive drive. As the Blue Hose reached the goal line they looked to LaQua Mayes and the junior from Rose Hill, Kansas punched it in from 1-yard away and gave the Blue Hose the 14-7 advantage.

The second and third quarters belonged to the Charlotte 49ers as they had their way with the PC defense attacking them both on the ground and through the air. From the beginning of the second quarter through the end of the third quarter, the 49ers scored 35 unanswered points to take complete control of the game. Turnovers and at times, poor execution put the Blue Hose in a hole we simply couldn’t come out of.

Offensively, it wasn’t too bad of a day for the guys in blue. The Hose accumulated 352 yards on the day and moved the ball well at times. However, two costly interceptions stalled PC drives and put the ball back in the hands of an offense that was firing on all cylinders. The PC offense was led by Tobi Antigha. The junior from Tampa, Florida hauled in 6 passes for 100 yards to lead the PC offense. Isaiah Lynn led the Hose on defense with 8 tackles and 1 sack.

The Charlotte 49ers used a balance attack to keep the Blue Hose defense guessing and on edge. Their success running the ball would pay off in a major way as Charlotte caught the PC defense off-guard with a 53 yard pass from Matt Johnson to Mikel Hunter in the second quarter. Just a few moments later Johnson tossed for another score this time finding Trent Bostick from 23 yards out. The 49ers had 505 yards of total offense including 236 yards rushing and 269 through the air. QB Matt Johnson had a great day going 15 for 24 for 269 yards and three touchdowns.

With the win, the 49ers improved to 3-2 on the year and now prepare for a visit from Gardner-Webb next Saturday at noon. PC falls to 1-3 on the year and gets ready for a short road trip to Spartanburg for a showdown with Wofford. That rivalry will be renewed once again at 1:30 p.m. at Gibbs Stadium.

***Picture Credit: The State Newspaper www.thestate.com

Caption(?): QB Kaleb Griffin breaks into the open field during the first half of the Brevard game on September 7th.