Offense sputters in loss to No. 3 West Georgia
Box Score CARROLLTON, Ga. -- For the second consecutive week, Miles took on a ranked team from the Gulf South Conference with hopes of making an early statement in the 2015 campaign.
But for the second straight week, the offense failed to make much noise and the defense bent as long as it could until the third-ranked Wolves (2-0) broke it open in the fourth quarter en route to a 33-7 win over the Golden Bears (0-2) in front of 7,283 at University Field Saturday night. Miles trailed by 10 points going into the final period but gave up a pair of touchdowns that finished off a team that has struggled to gain much offensive momentum.
After not getting much production from the quarterback position last week against North Alabama, head coach
Reginald Ruffin went to
David Whipple in hopes that his late-game spark against UNA would continue against West Georgia. While the junior had his moments, the offense was still stagnant and gained only 215 yards. UWG had 19 more plays and ran up 457 yards of offense that made it even more difficult for the Golden Bears to keep up.
On Miles' first play from scrimmage, Whipple hit Earnest Bell for a 64-yard completion that got th Golden Bears to the UWG 19-yard line. But three plays later,
Nick Christiansen pushed his 37-yard field goal wide right to squander the scoring chance.
West Georgia moved the ball up and down the field but the Miles defense did all it could to keep the Wolves out of the end zone. Two field goals and a touchdown gave UWG a 14-0 advantage but it could have been worse. Rod Holloman forced a fumble that was recovered by
Jawaski Randle to thwart one drive and Ronderick Rice intercepted a pass late in the second quarter that stopped another scoring opportunity.
Miles had two wonderful scoring chances in the second quarter. It appeared that Whipple had hit
Devin Brown on a 41-yard touchdown pass but the officials ruled that Brown did not make the catch in bounds and then called a penalty against Whipple for an illegal forward pass that completely wiped out the score. Later in the quarter, Whipple threw an interception at the UWG 10-yard line to cancel another opportunity.
Miles finally got on the scoreboard midway through the third quarter when Whipple connected with
Delarius Webb on a 15-yard touchdown pass the cut the deficit to 14-7. Whipple completed just 3-of-11 passes for 99 yards while running for another 38 yards.
West Georgia iced the game with two fourth quarter touchdowns and a questionable safety when it was ruled that Whipple intentionally grounded the ball in the end zone when there was a receiver in the vicinity of the ball.
Justin Hardy ran for a team-high 65 yards on 18 carries. Ronderick Rice (10 tackles) and
Braysean Jones (eight tackles) paced the defense for the Golden Bears, who play next week in their home opener against West Alabama. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
