Takeaways from Coastal Carolina’s win against Gardner-Webb

What it means

The dominant defensive effort in Saturday’s 17-7 win over Gardner-Webb is a welcomed development for the Chanticleers, who may have difficulty scoring moving forward with so many injuries on offense.

The Chants largely kept the ball on the ground to control the game against G-W, rushing 51 times while throwing just 18 passes.

“The defense played well pretty much the entire game except for a couple breakdowns on pass plays,” Coastal Carolina head coach Joe Moglia said. “Special teams continues to play well, and the offense, what they did that I was proud of was we did a much better job of controlling the ball.”

The Chants had the ball on offense for 32:44 of the game’s 60 minutes Saturday, including 18 minutes in the second half after the Chants trailed 7-3 at halftime. “It was important for us to be really effective in the second half, and we were,” Moglia said.

Looking ahead

The Chants host Football Championship Subdivision foe Central Connecticut State for its homecoming game at 2 p.m. Saturday at Brooks Stadium. It is the Chants’ first meeting with the Blue Devils of the Northeast Conference.

CCSU is 1-5 on the season and is coming off a 25-21 conference loss at home to Wagner. The Blue Devils defeated Bowie State in their third game, have losses to Lafayette, James Madison, Bryant, Penn and Wagner, and have been outscored 213-137 on the season.

The Chants may rely heavily on players who began the season as backups in skills positions on offense, including junior quarterback Tyler Keane, who will be starting his fourth game, and senior running back Kenneth Daniels, who could get the start with the availability of senior De’Angelo Henderson and junior Osharmar Abercrombie in doubt because of injuries.

The CCU defense will look to put together another strong outing after limiting Gardner-Webb to 7 points and just 223 yards of offense. “We finally got it together after the bye week,” defensive lineman Jabarai Bothwell said. “The second half of the season is our time to hit our stride.”

Game balls

Quarterback Tyler Keane: Though he threw for just 100 yards and threw an interception in the end zone, Keane completed 15 of 18 passes to help the Chants continue drives and threw a late touchdown pass that gave CCU a two-score lead.

Receiver Bruce Mapp: The junior had a game-high six catches for 53 yards and had CCU’s only receiving TD on an 11-yard pass in the fourth quarter.

Defensive tackle Jabarai Bothwell: The senior had 2 1/2 sacks for a loss of 18 yards and was credited with six total tackles, a pass breakup and an additional hit on quarterback Tyrell Maxwell.

Linebackers Alex Scearce and Shane Johnson: The centerpieces of CCU’s defense tied for the team lead with nine total tackles each and Scearce was in on one of Bothwell’s sacks.

By the numbers

4

Penalties CCU senior tackle Voghens Larrieux now has in three years as a starter after being flagged once Saturday.

249

Rushing yards for CCU, giving the Chants more than 240 rushing yards in five of its six games this season.

7

Interceptions by the Chants this season after snaring just six in 12 games in 2015. Linebacker Alex Scearce has three, safety Richie Sampson has two and cornerback Kamron Summers has two after recording one Saturday.

16

Combined punts by the CCU and Gardner-Webb in a sluggish game.

2:42

Total elapsed time in Saturday’s game that featured 83 rushing attempts and 44 passes.

13

Total tackles by 6-2, 253-pound G-W senior linebacker Chad Geter, who showed why he’s an FCS All-American with two sacks and a forced fumble. He’s four tackles away from 300 in his career.

This story was originally published October 16, 2016 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Takeaways from Coastal Carolina’s win against Gardner-Webb."