UC football stays on the hunt for turnovers

Charleston defensive end John Cominsky won Mountain East Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors after finishing with nine tackles, including four tackles for loss and one sack, in the Golden Eagles’ win against UVa.-Wise.
Travis Chandler | UC courtesy photo
For most of this season, University of Charleston football coach Pat Kirkland has stressed to his team the importance of winning the turnover margin.

It’s a lesson that the Golden Eagles had to learn the hard way a number of times already this season. Over a stretch of three games they lost by a combined 10 points, they committed five more turnovers than they forced.

But in each of the last two weeks, UC has won the turnover battle — and has come away with a pair of victories.

“It makes a big difference in close games like we’ve been in all year,” Kirkland said. “It’s been a great effort all around, our defense has been forcing turnovers, our offense has stepped up and has been able to get us into games too. That’s the kind of thing you have to be able to do in this conference. You have to limit mistakes and take advantage of when they make some.”

The Golden Eagles (3-4 overall, 3-4 Mountain East conference) forced four turnovers, including three fumble recoveries, in a 27-21 win on the road against UVa.-Wise last week. They’re plus-5 in turnover margin in wins over the Cavaliers and West Virginia Wesleyan, throwing just one interception in last week’s game. That added boost has been just another in a long line of instances where the Charleston defense has come up big this season. UC ranks fourth nationally in Division II in run defense, allowing just 64 yards per game.

That group, led by reigning Mountain East Conference Defensive Player of the Week John Cominsky, UC all-time sack leader Kahzin Daniels and all-MEC lineman James King, has helped hold teams in check all season and has continued to play with plenty of confidence.

“They’ve just done it all year. Right now, those guys are making some great plays for us,” Kirkland said. “I was impressed with the way we stepped up [against UVa.-Wise]. There were times, on both sides of the ball, where we were hitting on all cylinders and it was good to see them handle these last couple of games the way we have.”

They’ll need that defense to come up big down the stretch as the Golden Eagles will face a tall task each of the next two weeks. First comes Notre Dame College at 1 p.m. Saturday at University of Charleston Stadium. Then comes No. 2 Shepherd.

Both teams enter the game at or near the top of the MEC rankings in every major offensive statistical category. Shepherd is third in Division II, scoring 46.9 points per game. NDC, averaging an MEC-best 268.1 rushing yards per game, will also be a great test for the Charleston defensive line.

“We’re playing the top two teams in the conference back-to-back and that’s never going to be easy obviously, so being able to have some of the momentum from the last two games is big,” Kirkland said. “I don’t think we’ve ever lacked the confidence — we had some misfortune and lost some close games, but they understand we’re putting ourselves in position to win games.

“The emphasis has been on cleaning things up, finishing games and playing four solid quarters. We’ve gotten better, we’ve developed some consistency and they’ve handled things well.”