2007, August 25th: "Football Returning to BSC For The First Time since 1939"

News late in the week that Birmingham-Southern would remain open, at least for the time being, was welcomed. It inspires this post in which we look back at their return in 2007 through the article below from the Montgomery Advertiser. Hopefully the school and its program continue to persist.

The only Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference game the team won in its return season was its second-to-last one, at Sewanee Tennessee. I've located the summary from the program's website archives and share the bulk of it here. 

Panthers' defense forces late turnover to nip Sewanee, 35-33 

The Birmingham-Southern defense was tested throughout the second half but during crunch time the Panthers forced a turnover late in the fourth quarter to help seal a 35-33 win over the University of the South...Saturday at McGee Field-Harris Stadium.

BSC's Matt Laird recovered a Patrick Shelton fumble at the Sewanee-34 to record the defense's fourth turnover of the afternoon. BSC intercepted two passes and recovered two fumbles to improve to 3-6 on the season while Sewanee fell to 1-7.

Sewanee struck first after a blocked punt set the Tigers offense up in BSC territory.  Patrick Shelton hit Chris Murphy who broke several tackles en route to the end zone for a 42-yard touchdown. The PAT gave the Tigers a 7-0 lead with 12:45 left in the first quarter.

The Panthers answer came late in the first quarter on an eight-play, 65 yard drive. Erik Harris scored his first career touchdown from two yards out to cap the drive. (Jonah) Fryfogle's extra point tied the game 7-7 with 3:38 left in the first quarter.

Sewanee's bid to take the lead failed when Andrew Gould's 32-yard field goal went wide left to keep the score tied with :10 left in the opening period.  The Tigers would take a 9-7 lead early in the second quarter when Dustin Armstrong's snap sailed over the head of BSC punter Drew Jackson out the end zone for a safety.

BSC gained its first lead of the game on a 31-yard field goal by Jonah Fryfogle with 9:18 to go in the second quarter.

The BSC special teams set up the next score. Punter Geoff Marolda bobbled the snap that was recovered by Sewanee's Lewis Dawson at the four-yard line, turning the ball over on downs. BSC took just two plays to score on an Anthony Mostella two-yard run with :59 to go in the second. Chalankis Brown tipped the extra-point forcing the kick wide left to keep the BSC lead at 16-9 at halftime.

Brad Stockdale intercepted a Shelton pass at the BSC 48 on Sewanee's first possession of the third quarter. The drive stalled at the Sewanee-24 setting up a Fryfogle 41-yard field goal for a 19-9 lead with 11:25 left in the third quarter.

Chris Murphy returned the ensuing kickoff 71-yards to put the Sewanee offense deep in BSC territory. Blake Mears' eight-yard touchdown run cut the deficit to 19-16 with 10:54 left in the third quarter.

The Panthers answered on its next possession when Joe Thigpen tossed a 60-yard touchdown pass to Walter Arrington. Fryfogle's PAT pushed the Panthers lead to 26-16.

Sewanee continued to keep within striking distance after recovering a fumbled punt deep in BSC territory. Gould nailed a season-long 32-yard field goal drawing the Tigers to within seven with 5:10 to play in the third.

A 68-yard pass from Thigpen to Alex Streetman set up the next Panther score. Thigpen capped the drive on a one-yard out for his ninth rushing touchdown of the season  The extra-point try failed keeping BSC's lead at 31-19 with 4:44 to play in the third.

The Tigers answered once again on the their next drive. A Shelton to Bruce Bentley 64-yard pass set up a Trey Reliford three-yard touchdown run. The PAT cut the lead to 32-26 with 2:14 remaining in the third quarter. 

BSC added to the lead with 6:06 left in the fourth quarter. Fryfogle connected on his third field goal of the afternoon from 35-yards out for a 35-26 lead.

Sewanee's counter came in the form of a 33-yard halfback pass from Mears to David Craig that cut the lead to 35-33 with 5:32 to go in the fourth quarter.

The 1-7 record did not prevent BSC from landing some post-season honours. Walter Arrington was named the Conference's newcomer of the year. 

A new honor was added this year to the SCAC postseason awards menu and it is fitting that a player from a first-year program is its first recipient. Walter Arrington, a 5-7, 175-pound receiver from Bessemer, Ala., was voted as the SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year.

Arrington finished the season ranked in the Top 10 in the SCAC in several categories, including all-purpose yards (120.9 per game - second), kick return yardage (21.8 per return - third), receiving yards per game (51.9 - eighth) and receptions per game (4.75 - sixth). He had 33 receptions for 380 yards and two scores for the Panthers and also rushed the ball 30 times for 72 yards and another TD.

Arrington received four votes in the NOTY balloting to nose out Alex Koors of DePauw, who received three votes. Chalankis Brown of Sewanee-University of the South picked up the remaining two votes.

Arrington would also be named to the SCAC's 30th anniversary team in January of 2021 and BSC's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.