CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Despite holding a 7-6 lead late in the first quarter, the VMI Keydet Football Team would concede 35 unanswered points as they ultimately fell 58-28 to the Western Carolina Catamounts in Cullowhee on Saturday afternoon.

Key Stats
- Western Carolina outgains VMI 534-295, Keydets turn the ball over five times
- Taron Dickens goes 30-for-37 with 294 yards and two scores
- Hunter Rice has 9^th career 100-yard game with 109 yards and two rushing touchdowns
- Morgan McPhaul (16 yards), Destin Moore (40 yards) record first career receiving touchdowns
- JoJo Crump tosses first career passing TD, goes 9-for-14 with a career-high 138 yards in two quarters of play as VMI puts up its highest offensive output all year
- Eric Rankin leads Keydet tacklers with 17.0 tackles, 0.5 sack as he surpasses 100.0 tackles for the season
- Steven Riveros has career-high 13.0 tackles and 1.0 TFL; Jason Johnson posts career-best 10.0 tackles with 1.0 TFL
- Chandler Wilson is 5-of-8, three INTs; Julio DaSilva has four catches for 45 yards

Rocco's Remarks
On the Game
"We made way too many mistakes in the first half, didn't field a kick off, just a lot of mistakes and they made us pay, it was embarrassing for us to endure that half. At the break, we made some adjustments and talked a lot about rising up and playing with courage, grit and character and we fought the full 60 minutes to the end of the game."

On the Next Week
"We've got one game left at home next week against ETSU and I feel like we have to rise up and play our best game. We're on our fourth quarterback…but what JoJo (Crump) did out here today is something I think we can build on for next week."

What's Next
VMI (1-10, 1-6 SoCon) will cap off the 2024 season at home, hosting ETSU for a noon kickoff at Foster Stadium next Saturday.

How it Happened
First Half
- VMI defense forces a three and out, but a fake punt leads to a field goal, Western Carolina adds another to lead 6-0 at the 6:07 mark
- Austin Fletcher would strip the ball on a punt, setting up VMI inside the 20 where Wilson would hit McPhaul for his first career score (7-6, 1:24 1^st)

 - A 56-yard screen pass sets up a touchdown for WCU (13-7, 13:54 2^nd) and on the ensuing kickoff, the Catamounts would recover a kick at the VMI 11, cash in and score four more touchdowns to take a 41-7 lead at the break

Second Half
- JoJo Crump hits Julio DaSilva on the opening play of the second before Rice takes it 59 yards to the house (14-41, 14:11 3^rd)
- Crump finds Nelson downfield for a 40-yard gain before hitting Moore for a 40-yard touchdown reception (21-44, 3:52 3^rd)

- The Catamounts answered with two scores of their own (21-58, 10:31 4^th) but VMI would fight until the end, going 62 yards capped off by a Rice rushing score to put up its highest point total all season (28-58, 0:21, 4^th)