Flames stun Chants for second year in a row

Leave it to the Coastal Carolina and Liberty football teams to combine for a highly dramatic finish in their nationally televised regular-season finale Thursday night.

The No. 4-ranked Chanticleers retook the lead with less that four minutes to play, but the host Flames converted on a fourth-and-8 play and then went back ahead on Josh Woodrum’s 40-yard touchdown pass to B.J. Farrow with 1:27 remaining on the way to a 24-21 win before a crowd of 18,955 at Williams Stadium.

The Chants (9-2, 4-2 Big South) and Flames (6-5, 3-3) have developed a penchant for these kind of thrillers in recent years with their last three meetings now all decided by three points or less.

This one, though, came before the eyes of a national ESPNEWS television audience, and likely at the expense of the Chants’ hopes for a coveted top-eight seed and first-round bye in the FCS playoffs.

Coastal Carolina, which was ranked No. 1 in the FCS Coaches Poll for eight weeks this season, will learn its postseason fate during the live NCAA FCS selection show Sunday at 11 a.m. on ESPNU.

“Well I certainly would expect us to be in the playoffs, so the issue all along was where are we going to be seeded?” Chants head coach Joe Moglia said on the field after the loss. “I think now it’s going to be difficult for us to get a top-8 seed, but the committee will do what they believe they need to do and we will live with that.”

It’s the second season in a row the rival Flames have stunned the Chants in the final minutes of the teams’ regular-season finale to negatively affect their positioning for the postseason.

Last November, Coastal Carolina had a potential game-winning 24-yard field goal attempt denied in the final seconds as Liberty held on for a 15-14 win and dealt the Chants their first loss.

And the ending was no less deflating for the team Thursday night.

Coastal Carolina had stumbled offensively most of the second half while letting a 14-7 halftime lead turn into a deficit, only to rally late with an 83-yard completion from senior Alex Ross to sophomore Chris Jones to set up an eventual 1-yard touchdown run by junior De’Angelo Henderson for a 21-17 lead with 3:59 remaining.

That clutch connection down the middle of the field was the second-longest pass completion in program history and gave the Chants their first red zone opportunity of the game and what looked to be the edge in the game.

But Liberty was even more clutch.

On the ensuing series, Woodrum connected with Darrin Peterson over the middle for a 21-yard completion on fourth-and-8 to keep the Flames’ final drive going. It was a perfect pass at the perfect moment to the Big South’s all-time leader in receiving yards.

Two plays later Woodrum delivered again on a post route to Farrow, who bounced off the first would-be tackler and eluded another on his way into the end zone for the decisive score.

“It’s a great play, I feel like, on their part,” senior defensive end Roderick Holder said of the back-breaking fourth-down conversion. “I feel like everybody was at the right place. I forgot what the coverage was specifically. We ran a stunt on the d-line, that’s all I can say, and I felt like I could have got there, but just fell short. It’s a great play by them. You’ve got to give it to them.”

Moglia said he needed to see video of the play before offering any specific evaluation.

Meanwhile, Woodrum told the local media he was surprised the Chants didn’t have Peterson even more blanketed on the play.

“Petey’s been making plays for three years for me now. He’s the best receiver I’ve ever played with,” Woodrum said. “Everyone knew who the ball was going to go to, I don’t know how they didn’t stop it, but Petey ran a great route and I delivered it to him.”

Coastal Carolina started its final drive at its own 33 with 1:21 to play and was soon pushed to a fourth-and-10 situation. Ross’ final pass went off the hands of junior Bruce Mapp over the middle with 45 seconds left to all but seal the win for the Flames.

Once it was over, the Liberty fans rushed onto field, joined in the team prayer at midfield and then continued the celebration.

While the Chants were trying to process what happened ... again.

“It definitely hurts, especially as a senior. We always want to beat Liberty,” Holder said. “This is a tough game, it hurts, but fortunately [we’ll] see where we go in the playoffs and just bounce back. Like our coach says, you’ve just got to give 100 percent every play and that’s all we can do.”

Said Jones: “It’s a tough feeling. It hurts. It’s a lot of pain right now. I tried to play well for the team tonight; it just didn’t go the way that we wanted it to go. We just look forward to the playoffs, hopefully we get a good seed and hopefully we win out.”

Jones had a huge game for the Chants, hauling in six catches for 168 yards – the third-best single-game total in program history – and a touchdown.

Ross finished 17-of-32 for 325 yards, one touchdown and one interception, and Henderson rushed 11 times for 89 yards and two scores.

It just wasn’t enough.

Woodrum was 19-of-30 passing for 262 yards and two touchdowns while Desmond Rice rushed 18 times for 76 yards and a touchdown and Peterson had four catches for 70 yards.

“I think in the second half we were able to come up with some big stops, but they weren’t good enough,” Moglia said. “They were able to go down the field when it really, really mattered against us and score a touchdown. ... The bottom-line is we didn’t execute well enough to win the game offensively or defensively.”

After falling behind 7-0 early in the first quarter, Coastal Carolina answered back with 14-straight points – on a 24-yard touchdown grab by Jones and a 71-yard touchdown run by Henderson – to take the halftime lead.

But the Flames stifled the Chants offense while forcing five punts and an interception to start the second half before that flurry of points in the final minutes.

Now the Chants await their postseason fate and turn their thoughts forward.

“I reminded them that I know that this is painful – it’s painful for me, it’s painful for them,” Moglia said. “But we have school tomorrow. ... So tomorrow our guys have got to go to class, they’ve got to lick their wounds a little bit, we’ll meet tomorrow afternoon, give everybody Saturday off and then we’ll start again Sunday.

“And by the time we’re ready to start Sunday, I reminded them that we’ve got to be ready to go. I reminded them that the season’s not over.”

That point was not lost on any of the Chants, despite the painful ending Thursday night.

“We’re definitely still going to keep our heads up,” Holder said. “Wherever we’re seeded, we’re ready to play. Whoever we face, we’ll never give up. Our season’s definitely not over and we’ve just got to believe in one another and we’ll be fine.”

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 10:08 PM with the headline "Flames stun Chants for second year in a row."