Streak snapped: WCU ends 20-game losing skid in Southern Conference action

Incomplete Press photo/Andy Scheidler Chattanooga receiver Chris Pitchford is unable to haul in the catch, as Darrel Gray defends for Western Carolina.

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For the past three seasons, the losses continued to mount for Western Carolina in Southern Conference play.

More than 1,000 days had passed when the Catamounts were able to break the unwanted streak, as WCU beat Chattanooga at home Saturday, 27-7.

The win snapped a 20-game SoCon losing skid, dating back to a 24-0 victory over Wofford on Nov. 5, 2005.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Zack Jaynes threw three touchdown passes to help the Cats break the streak.

"It's going to set the goal higher, set the standard higher," Jaynes said. "Definitely we've been, I wouldn't say we've been satisfied with losing, but it's been, 'OK, now we're gonna go to next week.' But now in that locker room we're expected to come out and win every week."

The 20-game skid ranked as the third longest in Southern Conference history. VMI set the record with 32 straight losses from 1996-2000, while Davidson lost 28 straight from 1974-1986.

It may have been three years, but senior offensive lineman James Singletary remembers how good it felt to win in the SoCon.

"I remember how that felt and I wanted to get back to that feeling," he said. "And getting these young guys to play like we used to play, getting them to practice hard, play hard, I think coach (Dennis) Wagner has really put that into us, and we went out there and performed."

Western Carolina (3-7, 1-5 SoCon) opened up a 13-0 lead at halftime, as Chattanooga couldn't move the football against the Catamount defense. The Mocs (1-8, 0-5 SoCon) scored their only points of the game in the third quarter on a 41-yard interception return to trail 13-7.

But Jaynes twice connected with freshman wide receiver Andrerius Thomas for a TD in the fourth quarter, sealing the victory.

Jaynes finished with 146 passing yards and three touchdowns. Freshman Levon Curtis, starting in place of the injured Quan Warley, rushed for 104 yards.

"I was nervous, 'cause as a freshman first start, I wanted to have a big game, step in and just keep doing what Quan was doing," Curtis said.

The Catamount defense held the Mocs to 178 total yards on the day. They recorded four sacks to go with three interceptions.

Chattanooga has also experienced woes in its football program in recent years. The Mocs have won a total of three games in the past two seasons. Their head coach, Rodney Allison, will remain with the team until the end of the season before exiting the program.

Though WCU was 0-5 in the SoCon coming into the Chattanooga game, four of its five opponents were ranked in the top 30 (The Citadel, Furman, Wofford and Georgia Southern).

"When you play in the Southern Conference, that's a weekly event," Wagner said. "We want to put ourselves in position so that every week everybody that plays each other is a top 25 or top 40 team. Obviously, every team in the league can't be in the top 20, because we're going to take turns beating each other. I think that we've proven at times that we can play with teams, (but) we've shown at times that we've laid an egg. The consistency now is what we really have to focus in on."

The Cats will travel to Elon this week. After a bye week, they'll host rival Appalachian State on Nov. 22 in the Battle for the Old Mountain Jug.