[Careless Whisper]

Home Debut Brings First Touchdown, Another Defeat
Despite scoring its first touchdown of the season, Carnegie Mellon fell to Western Illinois in its home opener

by Jayson Thomas, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter

PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- The national (regional? local?) nightmare is over. Carnegie Mellon scored its first touchdown in NCAA Division I play in the fourth quarter, but the Tartans fell to 0-4 with a 21-7 loss to Western Illinois earlier this afternoon.

In the opening minute of the fourth quarter, Carnegie Mellon (0-4) backup quarterback David Ford found sophomore wide receiver Pete Carlson in the corner of the end zone for the team’s inaugural trip to paydirt in 2006. That pulled the Tartans to a 14-7 deficit, but they wouldn’t get any closer as Jerry James scored with 5:44 remaining to seal the win for Western Illinois (1-3).

“Proud of this group for continuing to fight,” said first-year head coach John Elliott. “We were fired up to play in front of our home crowd, and we appreciate all the support in what has been a struggle so far this season. We still aren’t where we need to be on an acceptable level offensively, but getting that touchdown finally was a nice moment and hopefully sparks us for more.”

Replacing an ineffective Andre Miller (3-14, 19 yards), Ford came in and provided a brief boost in the CMU attack, finishing with 51 yards on 7 of 15 attempts. His strike to Carlson was the sophomore’s fourth catch of the afternoon, tying him with freshman Kurt Thompson for the team lead.

The gameplan centered on Robert Riley as expected, and the junior provided 146 yards on 29 carries. But Justin Thompson missed a field goal in the first quarter, and the Tartans were stopped on fourth down twice in moments that limited their scoring opportunities.

“We just have to put everything together one of these days,” said Elliott. “I think once we do that – if the passing game consistently moves the ball, Robert (Riley) continues being Robert, and our longer drives start ending in at least three points – then we’ll get less flack and start making our opponents work to beat us.”

Senior cornerback Spencer Mason snagged an interception defensively, while Jared Davis, Robert Graves, and Walter Hunter registered sacks.

Steve LaFalce tossed a pair of touchdowns for the Leathernecks, including an 80-yard strike to Dwayne Miller on the first play of the second half.

Carnegie Mellon is off next week, then heads to Montana for a road contest on Saturday, October 7.

Western Illinois Leathernecks at Carnegie Mellon Tartans
Sep 23, 2006	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Western Illinois Leathernecks (1-3)	0	7	7	7	21
Carnegie Mellon Tartans (0-4)	0	0	0	7	7

Scoring Summary
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		WIU	CMU
2:19	(WIU) Steve LaFalce 3-yard pass to Boomer Moore (Taylor Rowan kick)	7	0
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		WIU	CMU
14:53	(WIU) Steve LaFalce 80-yard pass to Dwayne Miller (Taylor Rowan kick)	14	0
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		WIU	CMU
14:37	(CMU) David Ford 16-yard pass to Pete Carlson (Justin Thompson kick)	14	7
5:44	(WIU) Jerry James 4-yard run (Taylor Rowan kick)	21	7

Western Illinois Leathernecks

Carnegie Mellon Tartans PASSING C/A YDS TD INT David Ford 7/15 51 1 0 Andre Miller 3/14 19 0 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Robert Riley 29 146 5.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Pete Carlson 4 35 8.8 1 Kurt Thompson 4 26 6.5 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Curtis Willis 9 0 0 0 Jared Davis 6 1 0 0 Spencer Mason 3 0 1 0 Walter Hunter 2 1 0 0 Brent Matthews 0 0 1 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Justin Thompson 0/1 1/1 1 --