2008 Football Season Wrap-up

The University of the Cumberlands Football Patriots finished the 2008 season 10-2 overall, 6-0 in the Mid-South Conference Eastern Division, 1-1 in the post-season and ranked #6 nationally. With another MSC East Championship and tying the best season record in school history with 10 wins and 2 losses, the Patriots moved to a post-season ranking of #8 and hosted the first round of the Football Championship Series. Winning round one advanced the Patriots to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in history. The Patriots placed 6 players on the Mid-South Conference teams, had the MSC East Defensive Player of the year, had one team record broken, nine individual records broken, two individual records tied, and were able to keep the legendary “Brass Lantern” from their win against Union College. All these accomplishments were directed by the 2008 MSC East Coach of the Year and AFCA NAIA Region-I Co-Coach of the Year, John Bland, and his coaching staff.

Cumberlands started out the season at Mars Hill College, an NCAA Division II opponent. The Patriots were unable to start their season off with a win as they fell by a score of 14-37 and went to a record of 0-1. Up next was Mississippi College as they traveled to Williamsburg to play in the Patriots opening home game of the 2008 season. The Patriots turned their season around early and won by a score of 49-28 against another NCAA Division II school and advanced to 1-1 on the season. The third game of the season was going to be the challenge for the Patriots as they traveled to #24 ranked Bethel College in McKenzie, TN. Bethel fell to the Cumberlands in a close match by a score of 22-20 advancing the Patriots to a 2-1 overall record. For the next two weeks, the Cumberlands remained on their home turf playing Cumberland University and Pikeville College. Against Cumberland University, the Patriots had a big win by a score of 52-37 and became a 3-1 team before beginning their Mid-South Conference East Division games. When Pikeville came to town, the Patriots held them to only one score and won by a final of 42-7 to advance to 4-1 on the season and 1-0 in the MSC East.

Mid-season, the Patriots traveled to Union College for the “Battle for the Brass Lantern”. Union was ranked #11 in the nation at the time and had the home field advantage for the first time since 2003. The Patriots walked off the field with another win by a score of 35-28 and moved up to the #1 spot in the MSC East with an overall record of 5-1 and a conference record of 2-0. The next competition was a head-to-head matchup against the Georgetown College Tigers who the Patriots had a series record of 3-20 against and have not beaten since 1996. The 2008 season was good to the Patriots as they made their way past the Tigers 35-20 and moved their record to 6-1 overall and 3-0 in the MSC East. Back on the road, Cumberlands scampered by West Virginia Tech by a score of 28-19 and went on to 7-1 and 4-0 in the conference. Campbellsville University, who moved over to the East Division of the MSC, had the Cumberlands circled on their schedule all season, but the Patriots went to Campbellsville and left with yet another victory 34-27.

With an 8-1 overall record and a 5-0 MSC East record, the Patriots welcomed UVA-Wise who were ranked #16 in the nation and had an overall record of 8-1 and an MSC East record of 4-1. With the win, the Patriots were named outright MSC East Division Champions as the Cumberlands pulled away early and stayed ahead to win by a score of 56-37.

For the second year in a row and the third time in history, the Patriots made it to the post season. With a national ranking of #8, the Cumberlands hosted the first round of the Football Championship Series against Shorter College (MSC West). Shorter came up short by a score of 31-7 as the Patriots won their first playoff game in history. A new opponent arose for the Cumberlands as they were selected to travel to the University of Saint Francis (IN) for the second round of the playoffs. Unfortunately, the Patriots lost their second game of the post-season against the #3 team in the NAIA by a score of 31-20. The Cumberlands finished with a record of 10-2 overall, 6-0 in the MSC East, and 5-0 at home.

In the third year of the Bland era, the winning tradition continued as the Patriots were yet again over the 500 mark. Cumberlands dominance continued in the NAIA as they finished 2008 ranked 1 st in the nation for total interceptions with 26, 2 nd in rushing offense with 270.3 rushing yards per game, and 3 rd in the nation for 3 rd down conversions with 50.3 percent.

Kyle King (St. Cloud, FL) in his third year as the starting quarterback continued to improve throughout the year. He threw for 11 touchdowns in his 57 completions and 1333 yards, along with rushing for 768 yards and nine touchdowns. Freddy West (Mulberry, FL) returned to the Patriots rushing squad after taking a year off and scored 90 points. West ran 128 times for 560 yards and had 15 touchdowns on the season. To cap off the offensive leaders of the season, Matt Jones (Williamsburg, KY) led the Patriots in receiving with 19 completions for 395 yards and four touchdowns. In the first pass completion of the season to Victor Smith (Knoxville, TN), King completed the longest pass in school history for 89 yards.

Defensively, PJ Hughes (Montezuma, GA) stepped up in his second year as a starter and led the Patriots with the most tackles in school history for a single season with 135 tackles and recorded an interception. Hughes was followed by the MSC East Defensive Player of the Year, Travis Thurmond (Statham, GA) with 112 tackles and three interceptions. Brian Abshire (St. Cloud, FL) again led the team with six interceptions with two touchdown returns. Corey Maddox (Tifton, GA) led with 7.0 sacks for a loss of over 43 yards. Victor Smith recorded 17 pass breakups to the record books with his 2 interceptions and one return for a touchdown.

For the special teams, Maurice Berryhill (Indianapolis, IN) stepped up to the challenge with 581 total kickoff return yards and 250 punt return yards. Hunter Meade made 3 out of his 4 attempted field goals (75.0%), with a long of 33 yards and made 55 of his 57 PAT attempts (96.5%). Meade broke the individual records for the most PATs made in a season and the most all-time PATs made. Sean Mounts (Norris, TN) punted 38 times for an average of 36.2 yards per punt and had a long of 58 yards.

Earning All-Conference awards were Alex Wright (Quitman, GA), Brian Abshire (St. Cloud, FL), Josh Frosch (Corbin, KY), Justin Norman (McDonough, GA), Tyler Ayers (Williamsburg, KY) and Ricky Walker (Thomasville, GA). Ronnie Bowling (Williamsburg, KY) was named the MSC East Champion of Character for the 2008 Patriots, while Travis Thurmond (Statham, GA) was named the MSC East Defensive Player of the Year. Receiving honorable mention in the MSC East for the Patriots were Maurice Berryhill (Indianapolis, IN) for offense and special teams, Kyle King (St. Cloud, FL), Hunter Meade (Bristol, VA), Justin Pritchett (Dayton, TN), Freddy West (Mulberry, FL), Desmond Cruver (Newnan, GA), PJ Hughes (Montezuma, GA), Corey Maddox (Tifton, GA), Sean Mounts (Norris, TN), Shovon Patton (Dublin, OH), Victor Smith (Knoxville, TN), and Eric Tisdol (Eastman, GA).

The University of the Cumberlands Patriots are looking forward to their 2009 season with the 2007 and 2008 MSC East Coach of the Year, John Bland. Look for the Patriots to finish strong once again as they strive for a hat-trick return to the playoffs.

[2007 Season Wrap-Up] [2006 Season Wrap-Up] [2005 Season Wrap-Up] [2004 Season Wrap-Up]