Charlotte 49ers win season finale on freshman Jonathan Cruz’s 56-yard field goal
Jonathan Cruz’s 56-yard field goal with 25 seconds left helped Charlotte spoil any bowl chance for Florida Atlantic, beating the Owls 27-24 on Saturday night.
It was also the final game for Charlotte coach Brad Lambert, who started the 49ers’ program. Last Sunday, athletics director Mike Hill announced that Lambert would not be retained as coach after this season. Lambert had two seasons remaining on his contract.
“Everybody just had a great week of practice,” Lambert said. “We took a relaxed approach this week. We just told the guys, ‘Hey, let's go down there and play as fast as we can and see what happens', because this team is good. FAU is a good football team. They are hard to tackle.
“Guys just hung in there and stuck together and ended up winning at the end. Just really thankful right now.”
Lambert was the 49ers’ coach for six years on the sideline and spent eight years total in Charlotte while building the program.
Florida Atlantic was looking for its sixth win for the second consecutive week to become bowl eligible for the second straight year. North Texas beat the Owls 41-38 last week.
On the Owls’ final drive, De'Andre Johnson completed a 12-yard pass to Willie Wright at the Charlotte 49-yard line, but Wright coughed it up and Marquavis Gibbs recovered to end the game.
FAU led 21-10 at halftime. In the third quarter, Benny LeMay’s 54-yard touchdown run brought Charlotte (5-7, 4-4 Conference USA) within four. LeMay, the former Butler High standout, ran 24 times for 173 yards.
Early in the fourth the 49ers went ahead when quarterback Hasaan Klugh ran for a 13-yard touchdown with 14 minutes, 21 seconds left. The Owls (5-7, 3-5) tied it with 3:12 to go on Vladimir Rivas’ 33-yard field goal.
Chris Robison threw for 273 yards and two touchdowns for the Owls
Charlotte 27, FAU 24
Charlotte | 10 | 0 | 7 | 10 | — | 27 |
FAU | 7 | 14 | 0 | 3 | — | 24 |
First Quarter
FAU—Whyte 75 pass from Robison (Rivas kick), 14:47
CHA—Quattlebaum 12 pass from Klugh (Cruz kick), 9:52
CHA—FG Cruz 30, 2:03
Second Quarter
FAU—Raine 23 pass from Robison (Rivas kick), 3:29
FAU—Robison 4 run (Rivas kick), :46
Third Quarter
CHA—LeMay 54 run (Cruz kick), 8:27
Fourth Quarter
CHA—Klugh 13 run (Cruz kick), 14:21
FAU—FG Rivas 33, 3:12
CHA—FG Cruz 56, :25
CHA | FAU | |
First downs | 20 | 22 |
Rushes-yards | 50-289 | 49-187 |
Passing | 91 | 306 |
Comp-Att-Int | 10-17-1 | 16-28-0 |
Return Yards | 14 | 34 |
Punts-Avg. | 6-43.16 | 3-39.66 |
Fumbles-Lost | 0-0 | 3-1 |
Penalties-Yards | 5-55 | 1-10 |
Time of Possession | 32:57 | 27:03 |
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Charlotte, LeMay 24-173, Klugh 18-85, McAllister 7-32, (Team) 1-(minus 1). FAU, Singletary 23-88, De.Johnson 9-65, Whyte 11-25, Robison 4-6, Bryant 1-2, Wright 1-1.
PASSING—Charlotte, Klugh 10-16-1-91, (Team) 0-1-0-0. FAU, Robison 13-22-0-273, De.Johnson 3-6-0-33.
RECEIVING—Charlotte, Kofa 3-27, Tucker 3-27, Quattlebaum 2-23, LeMay 1-7, McAllister 1-7. FAU, Bryant 5-86, Whyte 3-92, Raine 2-44, Jo.Mitchell 2-33, Wright 2-16, Harrison 1-24, Durante 1-11.
MISSED FIELD GOALS—FAU, Rivas 28.
This story was originally published November 24, 2018 at 10:16 PM.