CCU football notebook: How the Chants’ thirst for road wins has elevated performances

Coastal improved to 4-2 on the road this season with its 37-34 win at Georgia State on Saturday, and has won four of five away from home since its season-opening loss at South Carolina.

The Chants profess to enjoy playing away from Brooks Stadium.

“We as a team kind of like being on the road, too, because it brings a little hostile environment,” sophomore guard Brock Hoffman said. “We like to kind of [tick] people off when we win, so I think it kind of pumps you up and motivates you for the game.”

Coastal went 1-5 on the road last season but was competitive, losing four of the five games by scores within one possession, including at Arkansas and Appalachian State.

QB carousel

After three quarterbacks received extensive minutes last week at Massachusetts, freshman Fred Payton played all but two of CCU’s offensive plays Saturday.

Senior Kilton Anderson, who is nursing a high ankle sprain, did not play, and neither did true freshman Bryce Carpenter for just the second game this year.

Junior Chance Thrasher got into the mix, rushing for 3 yards and throwing a 3-yard pass to Ky’Jon Tyler on CCU’s first drive. But he did not return after that.

Thrasher, who like Payton is from Suwanee, Ga. – though Payton played at Parkview High and Thrasher at Peachtree Ridge High – had played in one game this season with one pass attempt for a 14-yard completion.

The 6-2, 220-pounder has been plagued by injuries. He battled shoulder injuries his first two seasons at CCU and injured an ankle on the first play of his first start of the 2017 season last Sept. 30.

Will Payton continue to get the bulk of the playing time at QB, especially if Anderson isn’t healthy? “It’s all in God’s hands, whatever he has for me,” Payton said.

Rare fast start

For the first time all season, Coastal did not fall behind in the first quarter.

Before Saturday, six of seven opponents scored first, and when the Chants did open the scoring against UAB they fell behind 21-7 before rallying for a 47-24 win.

The Chants jumped out to a 17-0 lead against Georgia State, though they did fall behind twice in the second half by the scores of 27-20 and 34-27 before scoring the only 10 points of the fourth quarter.

“I’m proud of the way the offense started the game. We faltered a little bit, kicking field goals when we needed to get some touchdowns,” Coastal coach Joe Moglia said. “The defense struggled there in the second and third quarters, but did a good job of coming back in the fourth quarter.”

Balanced conference

Aside from Troy, Georgia Southern and Appalachian State, which are all among the five teams in the Sun Belt Conference’s East Division with Coastal, the conference is pretty balanced.

Those three teams are a combined 11-1 in league games, with the loss being Appalachian State’s defeat at Georgia Southern on Thursday.

Of the conference’s other seven teams, only Texas State is winless in league play and no other team is better than 2-2.

“This is a league where anybody can get beat any week by anybody, so I’m not too pressed about what happened out there, we just have to go back in and keep working and get ready for next week,” said CCU junior defensive tackle Sterling Johnson, who transferred from Clemson after the 2017 season.

This story was originally published October 27, 2018 at 10:18 PM.