Coastal Carolina overcomes four deficits to hold off Western Illinois

Coastal Carolina football coach Joe Moglia had said earlier in the week that he expected Western Illinois to give the Chanticleers their toughest challenge yet.

And the Leathernecks obliged, taking the lead four times Saturday night as the Chants faced their first deficits of the season.

But none lasted very long.

The No. 1/2-ranked Chants answered Western Illinois’ upset bid time and again to earn a 34-27 win before a record Brooks Stadium crowd of 10,311 as the program debuted its new teal turf and sent all of those fans home happy.

“Everything we talk about is sort of character, everything we talk about is our mission, everything we talk about is ‘BAM,’” Moglia said, referencing his ‘Be A Man’ mantra. “So the one thing I know, we may not have a great night, we may not play as well as we should all the time, we may make some mistakes, but there is not a chance we’re going to lay down. That is not going to happen.”

Junior running back De’Angelo Henderson continued his torrid start to the season, finishing with 165 rushing yards and two touchdowns in 24 carries as well as a team-high six catches for 40 yards.

Senior quarterback Alex Ross was noticeably hobbled by an ankle injury sustained early in the game, but he went on to complete 15-of-23 passes for 153 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions and one lost fumble.

Junior Devin Brown, meanwhile, scored on a 93-yard touchdown return to make a pronounced impact yet again from his special teams role.

And Coastal Carolina needed all of it to keep its perfect season rolling forward.

The Chants (3-0) hadn’t trailed through their first two wins – although Furman kept things competitive in the season opener – but the Leathernecks (1-2) proved to be quite an obstacle Saturday night.

Western Illinois took a 7-3 lead midway through the second quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by Nikko Watson, only to have Coastal Carolina answer back 2 minutes, 16 seconds later as Henderson scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to cap a quick nine-play, 78-yard drive.

When Watson again scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to put the Leathernecks ahead 14-10 early in the third quarter, the Chants needed only 13 seconds to respond as Brown sped through the kickoff coverage unit for a 93-yard touchdown return – the fifth of his career, putting one him one behind the FCS record – and a 17-14 lead.

He was asked at which point he knew he was going to go all the way and responded matter-of-factly: “From the beginning.”

“After the first two returns we all noticed how the back side of the kickoff return team was coming down, so we had a perfect return for that,” he continued. “And once we called it I knew from the beginning from what they were doing and what we could do on that return that it was going to be there and it happened to be there.”

Added Henderson: “I called it on the sideline.”

Western Illinois kept the pressure on, though, going up 21-17 on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Trenton Norvell to Joey Borsellino with 5:25 left in the third quarter.

Henderson started the next drive with a 39-yard run and Coastal Carolina settled for a 45-yard field goal by junior Ryan Granger – his second of the game – before pulling back ahead early in the fourth quarter.

Henderson again jump-started the offense with a 28-yard run on second-and-long, and his backup sophomore Osharmar Abercrombie later picked up five yards on a pivotal fourth-and-1 before following with runs of 10 and 8 yards. That set up a 19-yard touchdown strike from Ross to sophomore Chris Jones as the Chants took a 26-21 lead after a failed two-point attempt.

It wasn’t over yet, though.

Once more the Leathernecks pulled ahead, going 85 yards in nine plays and getting a 5-yard touchdown pass from Norvell to Stacey Smith with 9:08 remaining to take a 27-26 lead.

And once more the Chants answered.

Brown delivered a 46-yard kickoff return this time and Coastal Carolina needed only four plays to go the rest of the way as Ross hit senior Tyrell Blanks over the middle for a 34-yard gain and Henderson followed with three runs, eventually scoring on a 3-yard plunge. Ross connected with junior Bruce Mapp in the very back of the end zone for the two-point conversion and the host seized the lead for good at 34-27.

“We were well prepared for the game. We knew they were going to come out here and give us their best game. Once again, our coaching staff made us well prepared for that,” Henderson said. “... And the defense, excuse my language, played a [heck] of a game tonight. Without them, we probably wouldn’t have come out with a W, so my hat’s off to them.”

For much of the night, the defense actually looked rather shaky while giving up 546 yards to the Leathernecks, including 370 through the air. That’s now twice in three games the Chants have yielded more yards than they did to any opponent all of last season.

“Our tackling wasn’t as good as what it should be, and we had a couple kind of busts – we gave them too many plays that were easy,” Moglia said. “But I don’t think that was necessarily a poise thing; I think that was more of a discipline thing. There were times where we lost our leverage where it wasn’t that complex, there were times where we just kind of screwed up our assignments – it wasn’t that complex – so they’re the things we have to better on.”

But when it mattered most, the Coastal Carolina defense rose to the challenge.

On the possession after the Chants took their final lead, Western Illinois drove to the Chants’ 34 before stalling. After a short rush, a false start penalty and a short pass that sophomore safety Kerron Johnson read well for one of his game-high 11 tackles, the Leathernecks faced a pivotal third-and-11.

Senior safety Kelvin Deveaux pressured Norvell into a deep incompletion, and then on fourth down he broke up Norvell’s pass toward the goal line, getting a hand up just in time to bat it away.

Deveaux, who finished with seven tackles, has been one of the defense’s top contributors so far this season and came through again in a big spot Saturday night.

“It’s a blessing to be able to make plays for your team like that,” he said. “As a starter and as a leader on the team, that’s one thing that the guys look to me to do. Basically, just do my job. I don’t have to go out there and do things miraculous; I just have to do my job. There’s 11 pieces to the puzzle. I’m just glad I was able to step up tonight and make plays for my team.”

Western Illinois would get the ball back once more with 1:27 remaining. The Leathernecks got across midfield again and Norvell had one deep pass narrowly elude a diving receiver in the end zone, but the comeback bid would soon come to a final end.

It wasn’t perfect, but the Chants’ record still is and after overcoming a quality opponent Saturday night, Moglia was simply encouraged by the outcome.

“In the locker room at the end of the game I told the guys that we all recognize I think that there were a lot of things we did wrong. There are certainly things we could do better on offense, certainly things we could do better on defense,” he said. “... But right now I didn’t want to worry about any of those things, I didn’t want the guys to worry about any of those things. I wanted them to enjoy the win.

“It was a good team, it was a good game, anything could have happened and I was proud of the way our guys hung in there [and] came up with plays when we needed to.”

This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 8:53 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina overcomes four deficits to hold off Western Illinois."