Never has Collin Hurst been more important to Presbyterian College’s football team.

That’s because Hurst couldn’t play. PC didn’t advertise it, but reality trumped secrecy on an awful afternoon for the Blue Hose at Davidson College Stadium on Saturday.

Davidson (2-8, 1-5 PFL) defeated Presbyterian (8-2, 4-2), 14-13, in an upset that defied belief and tore the Blue Hose hopes of a league championship and FCS playoff berth asunder.

With rangy Ty Englehart, backup quarterback and son of the head coach, in charge, Presbyterian’s passing game was negligible. The Blue Hose ran the ball as though they were playing for the 1919 Cup in 1919.

That cup exists, but Presbyterian has never seen it up close and personally. The Wildcats beat the Blue Hose for the fifth straight time, and this one was the Carolina Border Clash that got away.

PC began the day ranked 23^rd and 25^th in the national FCS polls. That will change after a loss to a team whose only previous victory was over Greensboro College. Heralded all season as the team that upset Mercer and Furman, the Blue Hose have now lost to Davidson.

The timing couldn’t have been worse. The team Presbyterian trailed by a game in the Pioneer Football League standings met its own Waterloo. Saint Thomas (Minn.) beat Drake (6-3, 5-1), 20-13. The Blue Hose pay a visit to Saint Paul to play the Tommies (7-3, 5-2) next Saturday, then close out the campaign at home against Marist (N.Y.) on Nov. 22.

Drake still leads the PFL, courtesy of PC et al., but five of the league’s 11 members – Saint Thomas, Presbyterian, Dayton and San Diego – now have two losses. PC began the day in second place alone. Now the Blue Hose are in a three-way tie for third, a half game behind Saint Thomas.

The Blue Hose’ almost game-long pursuit of the Wildcats ended up being painfully in vain. Davidson didn’t score in the final three quarters. PC could generate precious little offense in the fourth after trimming a two-touchdown deficit to one point.

It was an ill-fated game that included a missed extra point, three fourth-down failures, an interception and a fumble.

Neither team passed for 100 yards. The Blue Hose and Wildcats combined for seven third-down conversions in 28 opportunities.

The Wildcats scored twice in the first quarter. First quarterback Coulter Cleland hit Langston Green on an 18-yarder. Cleland followed up on fourth-and goal from the three, finding Mason Sheron with 20 seconds left.

Midway through the second quarter, Englehart led a touchdown drive that consisted of seven rushes, the final his own from seven yards away. Jett Jackson then missed the extra point.

PC made it to the Davidson 16 with 22 seconds left in the half but failed on fourth down.

Zach Switzer scored his ninth rushing touchdown on a seven-yard run in the third quarter. Head coach Steve Englehart elected to kick the PAT, which this time Jackson made, but it ended up leaving the Blue Hose a point shy for the rest of the game.

Justin Montgomery (14 carries, 94 yards) and Switzer (14-86) led PC’s 228-yard running game.

Ty Englehart completed 9/22 passes for a mere 69 yards and was intercepted twice. Davidson’s Cleland wasn’t much better, hitting 9/17 for 97 yards. Cleland, however, threw two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Sheron led the Wildcats with 89 rushing yards in 20 attempts.

Take a look at the stats here.

It may be too early in basketball season to declare an upset, but Presbyterian’s 68-64 victory over East Tennessee State on Saturday at Templeton Center will suffice.

Carl Parrish led the Blue Hose with 17 points, but it was Jonah Pierce, who paired 15 with 13 rebounds, who did more of the overall damage.

Both teams put a pair of players in double figures. Cam Morris III led the Buccaneers (1-1) with 17 points. Brian Taylor added 13.

Josh Pickett of PC scored nine points but was 3/3 on triples.

Presbyterian (3-1) led by as many as 13 points in the first half but trailed at the break, 26-25. The game featured 10 lead changes and was tied on six occasions.

PC’s early-season shooting woes ended. The Blue Hose shot a respectable .438 (21/48) from the floor and, more noteworthy, .600 (12/20) in the latter half, when they hit 5/7 long rangers.

In contrast, ETSU shot .382 (21/55) overall and .231 (6/26) in three-pointers.

“I thought our guys did a great job of taking experience from the Navy game (a 76-55 loss). That was like a practice because we approached it that way,” PC head coach Quinton Ferrell said. “We focused on certain aspects we wanted to do better.”

Pickett, a sophomore from Plainfield, Ill., who transferred in from the University of Denver, suffered a thumb injury in preseason practice that slowed his preparation for the season.

Of Pickett, Ferrell said, “The more we play and the more we get comfortable, he’s going to settle in. … He’s going to be a big part of what we do this year. He’ll always be out there for ‘winning time.’”

Presbyterian doesn’t have another home game until Nov. 26 when Columbia International visits Templeton Center. Between now and then, the Blue Hose go on the road to face Georgia State, South Carolina, Sacramento State, California and UCLA.

Take a look at the stats here.

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