Monday, October 21, 2002

Johnson City, Tenn. (Oct. 21, 2002) - East Tennessee State sophomore linebacker Lamar Beam (Shelby, N.C.) was named Southern Conference Defensive Player-of-the-Week after a dominant defensive performance in a 31-15 Buccaneer victory over Elon on Saturday. Beam was a one-man wrecking crew Saturday afternoon against Elon, spending seemingly all afternoon in the Phoenix backfield. Beam had a game-high 11 tackles, including six for losses and a game-high four sacks. Prior to Saturday's contest, Beam had 3.5 sacks in his ETSU career, but eclipsed that mark in just one afternoon. The Buccaneer defense as a whole had just three sacks on the season before Saturday. Beam contributed heavily on the most important series of the game, Elon's final possession in the fourth quarter. The Phoenix had fought back to 31-15 and had recovered an onside kick, recovering the ball on the ETSU 40-yard line. But Beam sacked Elon quarterback James Murtaugh twice in the ensuing three plays, on first and third downs. His third down sack set up a Montreal Harkley (Hanahan, S.C.) interception on fourth and 29, essentially ending the game. Following his phenomenal performance on Saturday, Beam now leads ETSU with 46 tackles, nine tackles for a loss and 5.5 sacks. Beam is the second SoCon Defensive Player-of-the-Week for the Bucs this season. Harkley won the award on Sept. 23 after turning in a great game against VMI. The Buccaneers return to action on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. as they face No. 4 ranked Furman from Memorial Center in Johnson City.