Friday, August 15, 2008

Football & Soccer Quick Hits

Can you feel the fall season getting closer?

Hard to believe, but games are less than two weeks from rolling out now!

Some notes to fill the void in the meantime:

--The Kansas City Chiefs did their best to spotlight the Big South this preseason, whether they know it or not. When KC topped Chicago 24-20 in the Chiefs' exhibition opener, one of the touchdowns was a Conference connection of second-year pro players: Coastal Carolina's Tyler Thigpen (8 of 16, 113yds--to lead all passers in the game, TD, INT) threw an eight-yard score to Charleston Southern's Maurice Price (2 rec, 33 yds, TD). Chants & Bucs--on the same side?!? But wait, there's more: Gardner-Webb's Brian Johnston also had a pair of solo tackles for the Chiefs!

--Liberty's All-Conference running back Rashad Jennings (pictured) earned a tremendous honor recently, as The Sports Network named him the upcoming season's best running back for the entire NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Bravo, Rashad!

--Women's soccer also gets out of the gate soon, and the preseason coaches' poll has arrived. The results: Coastal Carolina picked to lead the Big South in 2008, but not by a resounding margin. The Chanticleers were one of three teams (along with HPU and CSU) to earn three first-place votes from the League coaches (Liberty got the remaining vote), and CCU edged High Point by a point total of 90-83. Sounds like we should have quite a competitive year. Kudos to Coastal's Ashleigh Gunning (pictured) for picking up the Preseason Player of the Year award for 2008, adding it to her Player of the Year honor from the end of 2007.

--Anniversary Splash...I've seen a preview of a few of the Big South 25th Anniversary "Best of the Best" moment video vignettes: good stuff. That list has some great athletes, to be sure, but their stories also have some true emotions that will really reach out to fans of all teams and sports. Look for those to be available on BigSouthSports.com starting August 25th!



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