CCU takes Charleston Southern, Liberty victory locks in Chants for FCS Tournament

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With a playoff birth on the line the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers took care of business in their final game of the regular season by defeating Charleston Southern 38-13.

With Liberty defeating VMI earlier in the day 41-20 the Chants have officially obtained a portion of the Big South Championship and a spot in the FCS playoffs

With both the Chants (7-4, 5-1) and Flames (6-5, 5-1) wining their final game of the season creates a three-way tie between them and the Stony Brook Seawolves (9-2, 5-1). The tie breaker in the Big South is road conference wins and Coastal leads that with three wins. 

Last week the Buccaneers (5-6, 3-3) only allowed versus Gardner Webb they only allowed 207 total yards and a lone touchdown. This week they surrendered over 330-yards of offense, 246 on the ground alone, and five touchdowns at the hands of the Chanticleers. 

Lorenzo Taliaferro got the scoring started for the Chants early in the first quarter with a two-yard touchdown rush. Aramis Hillary and Jeremy Height both added on another rushing touchdown with a four-yard and two-yard rush respectively. 

With just about two minutes left in the half Charleston Southern started their drive looking to get on the scoreboard for the first time. With under 10-seconds left in the half Briar Van Brunt connected with Corvaughn Archie for a 34-yard pass bringing the Bucs down to the Coastal seven-yard line. With two-seconds left on the clock Van Brunt hit Larry Jones III with the touchdown pass to end the first half bringing the score to 21-7.

In the first half Tyler McCarthy and Quinton Davis both came up big on fourth down plays holding the Buccaneers setting up key scores for the Chanticleers. 

Coming out of the half time break the Chants took the ball down 70-yards on ten plays for a touchdown. On fourth and two Hillary passed an 18-yard pass to wide open tight end Tom Pauciello which set up a one-yard Marcus Whitener touchdown rush. On the point-after-touchdown place holder Austin Cain rushed in the two-point conversion. Coastal is now six-for-six on two-point-conversions, their fifth in the last three games alone. 

In the following possession the Buccaneers responded with a 10-play 52-yard drive ending with a five yard Teddy Allen touchdown. On the attempted two-point-conversion Tae Johnson intercepted the pass in the end zone and returned it 100-yards for two-points, to put the Chants up 31-13. This is the second time this year Coastal has returned a two-point conversion INT for a 100-yard touchdown. 

Late in the third quarter the Chanticleer offense added another 10-yard drive to the day with Marcus Whitener capping it off with a two-yard touchdown rush, his second of the day, making it 38-13 Coastal Carolina. 

Coastal Carolina Chanticleers ended their scoring for the day early in the fourth quarter as Alex Catron tacked on his eighth field goal of the year putting Coastal up 41-13.

It was quite a special moment on Saturday for 17 Chanticleer seniors as they clinch a playoff birth on their senior day. Before the game they were honored at mid-field with their families. 13 of the 17 seniors will be graduated by this December. As a team they have accomplished three winning seasons, two big south championships, and two playoff runs. 

Check out the 2012 NCAA Division I bracket here and an interactive one here.

Related:


100.3'The Team' and the beat report for Coastal Carolina Football for ESPN 100.3 and TheDigitel Myrtle Beach. You can follow Tom on Twitter @Tmichienzi18 or for questions call 774-254-4165.

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