Chanticleers Topple Arkansas State As McCall Makes History

Saturday, October 21

Jonesboro, Ark.

7:00 PM ET

Coastal Carolina University

4-3 , 2-2

Arkansas State

3-4 , 1-2

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Coastal Carolina	3	14	0	10	27
Arkansas St.	0	3	7	7	17

10/21/2023 11:09:00 PM | Football

Box Score

JONESBORO, Ark. – Coastal Carolina scored 17 of the first 20 points on Saturday night and used a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter to spoil Arkansas State's Homecoming, 27-17, at Centennial Bank Stadium.

Grayson McCall, who left the game with an injury following a hit to the head midway through the fourth quarter, became Coastal Carolina's career leader in passing yards, going 24-of-28 for 244 yards and two touchdowns to surpass Alex Ross's career mark of 9,918 yards. The Chanticleer signal caller now has 10,005 passing yards in his career.

Coastal Carolina's defense provided the first momentum swing of the game late in the first quarter when Clayton Isbell pressured the Arkansas State quarterback, deflecting a pass into the arms of Shane Bruce. The Chanticleers cashed in on the turnover as Kade Hensley scored the first points of the night with a 38-yard field goal with 24 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

CCU extended the lead on its next possession, marching 80 yards in eight plays as Sam Pinckney capped the drive with an acrobatic catch in the corner of the end zone to put the Chants up 10-0 with 6:16 left before halftime.

Arkansas State trimmed the lead to seven with a field goal on its next drive, but the Chanticleers answered to take a 14-point lead into the locker room as McCall found Kendall Karr for a seven-yard strike with 30 seconds to play in the first half.

The Red Wolves tallied the only points of the third quarter on a 10-yard touchdown pass to make the score 17-10 Chanticleers entering the fourth stanza.
Hensley's second field goal of the game put Coastal Carolina up by 10 with 9:54 to go in the fourth quarter.

The Chanticleer defense followed up with its second interception of the night as Tobias Fletcher stepped in front of an Arkansas State pass and returned it 38 yards. Three plays later, Jarrett Guest found the end zone on a three-yard rush to make the score 27-10 with 3:54 to play.

Arkansas State answered quickly with a 20-yard touchdown pass just 65 seconds later, but Coastal Carolina recovered the ensuing onside kick.

Max Balthazar led the CCU ground game with 79 yards on four carries, while Jared Brown paced the receiving corps with four catches for 57 yards. Sam Pinckney caught four passes for 20 yards to move into seventh-place on Coastal Carolina's career receiving yards list.

Defensively, Juan Powell and Clayton Isbell each finished with a team-high seven tackles.

The Chanticleers return to Brooks Stadium next Saturday for Homecoming against Marshall on the NFL Network. Kickoff is slated for 6:00 p.m.