Dickson, Purvis Honored By Big South Conference Following Homecoming Win
October 31, 2011 | Football
CHARLOTTE - Sophomore defensive lineman Maurice Dickson and senior punter Graham Purvis each earned Big South Conference weekly awards as selected by the league office Monday.
Dickson (Hillside, N.J. / Fork Union Military Academy) was named Big South Conference Defensive Player of the Week following a dominant performance up front against Charleston Southern. The 6-foot-4, 260-pound lineman registered a career-high 10 total tackles and established a new school record with 3.5 sacks - just a half sack shy of the Big South record for a single game. Dickson added 4.5 tackles for loss and had four of Gardner-Webb's season-best 11 quarterback pressures.
Dickson's sack total broke the previous record of 3.0 sacks, last recorded by end Rondell White at Tusculum in 1998.
Dickson's effort helped hold the Buccaneers to one score in a tight game. He had all 3.5 sacks and six of his tackles in the first half that saw Gardner-Webb limit Charleston Southern to only 17 yards rushing.
Dickson leads the Big South with 4.5 sacks on the season and has 23 total tackles to his credit in seven games played.
Purvis (Shallotte, N.C. / West Brunswick HS) was a force punting the football Saturday, helping Gardner-Webb maintain a field position edge in a 14-7 win. He punted 11 times for a Big South-record 497 yards (45.2 yards per punt) and had three punts of 50 yards or better in the game.
Purvis launched a school and Big South Conference-record 85-yard punt late in the fourth quarter, flipping the field position battle in Gardner-Webb's favor with a 14-7 lead. Punting from his team's 15-yard line, Purvis uncorked a perfect spiral over the CSU return man's head, hitting inside the 10-yard line before trickling just over the goal line for a touchback. That forced the Buccaneers to drive 80 yards for a potential tying score, which the Gardner-Webb defense was able to prevent in the closing minutes.
The 85-yard punt broke the previous school-record set by Rich Chapman against Guilford in 1973.
Purvis also had a 67-yard punt in the game - the sixth longest in league history - forcing CSU to take a knee deep in its own territory just prior to halftime with the score tied, 7-7.
Purvis has punted well in each of the past two weeks, recording three punts longer than 60 yards and four longer than 50. He is averaging 36.6 yards per punt in eight games this season, with 10 inside the opponents' 20-yard line, 16 fair catches and seven punts longer than 50 yards.
Gardner-Webb (3-5, 2-2 Big South) hosts Virginia State on Thursday, November 3, at 6:00 pm in Ernest W. Spangler Stadium.
