Oct. 19, 2009

Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina redshirt freshman Dion Wilson was today named the Southern Conference's Freshman of the Week following his two touchdown performance in the Catamounts' Homecoming win over The Citadel last Saturday in Cullowhee.

The honor is the first in Wilson's career and the first for a Catamount this season. WCU earned six weekly honors from the SoCon a season ago, including three rookie of the week accolades with two by running back Quan Warley and the third by Zack Jaynes.

Wilson rushed for both of Western Carolina's scores in Saturday's victory, the first of the season for the Catamounts. Wilson only tallied 20 total yards on the ground, but his five-yard scamper off the left side on a crucial fourth-down play midway through the final quarter proved to be the difference.

Trailing by three and facing a fourth and short situation from the six-yard line, WCU initially sent the field goal unit on the field for the game-tying try. However, following a timeout called by second-year head coach Dennis Wagner, the squad sent the offense back out to try and gain the half yard to move the sticks. Behind a huge surge by the offensive line, Wilson surged of the left side to gain the first down yardage and went untouched into the end zone for the game-winning score.

The lead at 14-10 - which proved to be the final tally - also represented Western's first lead of the season.

Wilson additionally plunged in from a yard out to put WCU on the board late in the third quarter. The Black Mountain, N.C., native who missed the previous game due to injury, also hauled in a pair of passes on screen plays for 24 yards.

Western Carolina wraps up its two-game home stand this Saturday, Oct. 24, as it hosts the Wofford Terriers at 4:00 pm at E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field in Cullowhee on Family Weekend. The Catamounts will look to halt a three-game slide against the Terriers, last winning over Wofford in 2005. The 24-0 blanking of the Terriers represented Wofford's first shutout defeat since joining the SoCon.

Saturday's game will be broadcast by WMYA-TV, MyNetwork 40 out of Asheville with a 3:30 pm air time. The game will also be carried on the Catamount Sports Network with a 90-minute pregame show beginning at 2:30 pm. Fans can also follow all of the action locally on WWCU-FM, Power 90dot5 in Cullowhee; 680 AM WRGC in Sylva; 920 AM WPTL in Canton; 1480 AM WPFJ in Franklin; and 1600 AM WTZQ in Hendersonville.

Live streaming audio of the game through Stretch Internet is also available online at www.CatamountSports.com.

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