How CCU football survived a thriller against Troy, finished the regular season undefeated
Coastal Carolina’s grand hopes of an undefeated season and New Year’s Six bowl game were all but dashed Saturday when Troy scored two touchdowns in the final three minutes to shock the Chanticleers and take a three-point lead.
Coastal head coach Jamey Chadwell was vehement this week in his objections to playing the game, and his fears were coming to fruition.
But Grayson McCall showed no such fear with the game and unbeaten season on the line at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Troy, Alabama.
Coastal’s redshirt freshman quarterback drove the Chants 75 yards in 45 seconds with no timeouts and threw the game-winning 23-yard touchdown pass to Jaivon Heiligh with 35 seconds remaining to keep all of CCU’s improbable 2020 dreams alive with a 42-38 win over the Trojans (5-6).
“He just went out there and was like, ‘Hey, we’re going to make it happen,’ ” Chadwell said of McCall. “There was never any doubt in his eyes. He just had this look like, ‘Hey, I’m ready to go.’ And I think your team feeds off that. That offensive line, they fed off that, and obviously the receivers.”
Coastal (11-0), the No. 13 team in the College Football Playoff rankings, remains on pace for a possible prestigious and lucrative NY6 bowl with the Sun Belt Conference championship game against No. 19 Louisiana (9-1) looming next Saturday at Brooks Stadium.
“We came here and came out with a win, and that’s the blessing behind it all,” Heiligh said.
The Chants took a 35-23 lead with just 5 minutes remaining on a 2-yard McCall touchdown run following an Alex Spillum interception, but Troy stormed back.
Jamontez Woods scored on a 3-yard run with 2:48 remaining and McCall’s second interception of the season set up the Trojans for a 6-yard Tray Eafford touchdown reception with 1:20 to play, and all seemed lost for the Chants.
“They had us on the ropes, pretty much the whole game our defense was on the ropes,” Spillum said. “Luckily the offense bailed us out and made it look so easy going down and scoring like they did.”
McCall hit Heiligh for 27 yards to start the game-winning drive, added a 16-yard pass to tight end Isaiah Likely to the Troy 23-yard line two plays later and hit Heiligh on a narrow slant between a pair of defenders for the touchdown.
Outside linebacker Jeffrey Gunter sacked Troy quarterback Jacob Free to force a fumble that defensive end Tarron Jackson recovered at the Troy 34 with 17 seconds remaining to secure the win.
“We have this relationship built in our team of ‘we’ve got your back.’ ” Heiligh said. “That’s where your grind goes in and your tears go in and all that. That’s where all that comes in at the end of the game is who worked harder and who drove each other to play harder and practice harder and all of that. [The defense] continues to make us better and we continue to make them better, and we find a way to win every week.”
The game was the second straight nail-biter for the Chants, who held on for a 22-17 win over then No. 13 BYU last week when Cougars receiver Dax Milne was tackled at the 1-yard line on the game’s final play.
“It was not the prettiest game by any means for us, obviously coming off a huge win [over BYU] last week and a challenging week with guys beat up . . . but we found a way to get it done and that’s what championship teams do,” Chadwell said. “It wasn’t pretty and it looked like it was dire straits. But that last drive there to go 75 yards in about 20 seconds or whatever it was.
“Just an unbelievable way to end the football game.”
Senior C.J. Marable rushed for 120 yards on 20 carries and scored three touchdowns Saturday, McCall completed 24 of 29 passes for 338 yards and three touchdowns passing plus one rushing, and Heiligh caught 11 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns. He had three receptions for 55 yards in the final drive a week after having a streak of receptions in 24 straight games come to an end against BYU.
“It’s always a great thing to get a win for your team and continue to compete after the week I had last week. I don’t think I played the best, to my capability,” said Heiligh, who leads the team this season in receptions, receiving yards and receiving TDs. “Just coming back and being able to show my face again and helping the offense and just getting my confidence back to where it needs to be.”
Coastal looked like it might roll early, as it jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead in the game’s opening seven minutes.
The Chants got the ball first and Marable scored on a 59-yard run on the third play of the game, dashing around the left end and racing down the sideline.
On the ensuing kickoff, Kaylon Geiger received a lateral across the field by Reggie Todd and raced to the CCU 30, but Brayden Matts intercepted a pass that was overthrown over the middle at the CCU 10, and the Chants drove 90 yards in 10 plays for a score.
Marable’s second TD came on a 20-yard pass from McCall, who faked a run to draw the linebackers toward the line of scrimmage and hit Marable over the middle in the open space behind them. Likely had two catches for 40 yards on the drive.
Troy then wrestled momentum from the Chants and scored on its next three possessions to pull within a point.
The Trojans took 14 plays to drive 45 yards and settled for a 42-yard field goal by Evan Legassey, then drove 87 yards in 13 plays for a 4-yard Kimani Vidal TD run to cut CCU’s lead to 14-10.
A 14-play, 79-yard drive culminated in a 28-yard Legassey field goal with 5:27 left in the first half after CCU caught a break when starting quarterback Gunnar Watson dropped the ball while trying to throw on third-and-goal at the 2.
Coastal regained some momentum before the end of the half with Marable’s third TD on a 2-yard run with 1:23 to play to finish off an eight-play, 75-yard drive. Troy reached the CCU 6 in eight plays but settled for a 23-yard Legassey field goal on the final play of the first half to cut CCU’s lead to 21-16.
The teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter.
Coastal bled nearly 10 minutes off the clock with a 16-play, 83-yard drive that culminated in a 6-yard Heiligh touchdown reception on the third of three third-down conversions on the drive.
Troy answered in just four plays, as Todd broke a couple tackles on a 41-yard touchdown reception over the middle.
The Chants then embarked on another long drive that consumed 9:30 off the clock, but came away empty when they failed to score on three consecutive runs from inside the 3-yard line, the final one from the 1 by Reese White on fourth down with 8:50 to play.
Watson was knocked out of the game on the next play when linebacker Teddy Gallagher tackled him in the end zone as he released a throw and hit the back of his head hard on the turf. Watson was 25 of 37 for 260 yards at the time.
Free, who has played in six games this season, replaced him and promptly threw an interception two plays later to Spillum. The junior safety was in double coverage on a deep pass over the middle and returned it 55 yards to the Trojans’ 4. A defensive pass interference penalty in the end zone set up McCall’s 2-yard TD run that gave the Chants a short-lived 35-23 lead.
“They came and took it at us for four quarters,” Chadwell said. “I’m proud of the win and glad we’re through it here and ready to get back into Conway and get ready for a championship game.”
Chadwell objected to playing the game because the conference championship matchup with Louisiana was already set and the Ragin’ Cajuns were idle this week, so they had an extra week to rest and prepare for Chants.
Sun Belt commissioner Keith Gill refused to cancel the game, which was rescheduled from Nov. 14 when Troy postponed it due to coronavirus issues and injuries that decimated at least one position group.
Coastal did not escape the game unscathed, as the Chants suffered injuries that are expected to force players to miss the championship game.
Junior offensive lineman Antwine Loper left the game with what appeared to be an ankle injury in the second quarter and didn’t return, and linebacker Kendricks Gladney Jr. left the game late with an apparent knee injury. Chadwell said neither will be able to play next week. “We lost some guys that we will not have for the championship game. . . . So thank you commish,” Chadwell said.
Additionally, tight end Isaiah Likely appeared to aggravate a lower body injury in the third quarter that has hampered him most of the season, and several players including Gallagher, Jackson, defensive end Rolan Wooden II, defensive back D’Jordan Strong and receiver Kameron Brown all needed attention from trainers at different times on the field.
Senior linebacker Silas Kelly did not play until CCU’s final three defensive snaps because of an upper body injury incurred against BYU.
The banged-up Chants now turn their full attention to Louisiana and an opportunity to win the Sun Belt title. “We’re going to be locked in and ready to play,” Spillum said. “We’ve been working for this and we’re going to take it all in and enjoy it.”
This story was originally published December 12, 2020 at 6:58 PM.
