Western Carolina Scores 35 After Halftime and Pulls Away
Halftime said Eastern Kentucky 14, Western Carolina 10. The final said 45-21. In between, the Catamounts scored 35 points over the last two quarters, and Lex Thomas did most of the damage.
Eastern Kentucky started it the right way. Tyler Travers hit Elijah Caldwell from 18 yards out in the first quarter and Brayden Latham from 9 late in the second, which put EK up 14-7 before a Western Carolina field goal as the half expired made it 14-10. Marlin Cochran had answered the first score with a 34-yard run, so the home side was never far away.
Then the third quarter happened. Thomas threw touchdown passes of 18 yards to Bode Burns and 12 and 6 yards to Josh Perry, and Western Carolina went from trailing to up 31-21 on those three scores (Jarvis Hayes got one back for EK on a 15-yard catch late in the quarter, so it was not a shutout). Thomas added a 15-yard run in the fourth, and Anthony Benjamin finished it with a 14-yard run with 0:47 left.
The yardage backs up the scoreboard. Western Carolina piled up 508 yards to 370, and the gap was on the ground: 188 rushing yards on 40 carries against 65 on 29. The Colonels also gave it away twice (one interception, one lost fumble) while the Catamounts coughed up nothing. Western Carolina also had three sacks to EK's two.
That is a 1-0 start for Western Carolina and an 0-1 one for Eastern Kentucky. Fantasy-wise, EK's passing game was fine; Travers threw for 305 yards and three scores. It just was not enough, and the other quarterback had a day.