Towson spent most of its Week 2 Saturday night trying to stay competitive against South Carolina. The Tigers were facing an SEC opponent on the road, and the gap between the programs showed in the second half. Then, with South Carolina pushing its lead further out of reach, one play left Towson worrying about something far more important than the scoreboard.
Punter Owen Scheihing went down during the third quarter while trying to stop South Carolina returner Vicari Swain near the goal line. Scheihing remained seated as a cart took him from the field. Towson head coach Pete Shinnick later opened up on the details.
“Yeah, we’re gonna take him back and get him looked at, but it doesn’t look good right now,” Shinnick said in the post-game presser. “He’s probably going to have something cast up or something taking place with it. It looks like it’s broken.”
The collision happened during Swain’s second punt return touchdown of the night. Towson had just punted from deep in its own territory. Swain caught the ball, moved left and worked through the coverage before Scheihing became the last player between him and the end zone.
Swain leaped to get around the punter and took the return 45 yards for a touchdown. Scheihing was caught in the collision and could not get back up.
With the play, the senior South Carolina defensive back made it two punts for touchdowns, covering 58 and 45 yards, and moved into sole possession of South Carolina’s career record with five punt-return scores. He also blocked an extra point on defense. The first touchdown put the Gamecocks ahead early. The second made it 31-9 in the third quarter. For Scheihing, the play has a very different consequence.
The redshirt freshman from Towson, Maryland, had taken over as the Tigers’ new punter this season. Before the South Carolina game, Towson’s own preview noted that Scheihing was in his first season handling the job. He had gone from a local player who had grown up in the area to making his first appearance at one of the SEC’s larger stadiums.
In 2025, he had a limited role with his team. The 6’4″ redshirt freshman was a reserve kickoff specialist for the Tigers. Still, he had 10 kickoffs and averaged 55.5 yards per kick in his two appearances. After his injury, many think Towson shouldn’t even be playing a powerhouse like South Carolina, considering the massive mismatch in roster quality.
Towson head coach had already opened up on playing a SEC heavyweight like South Carolina
There is a financial reason the matchups between FBS powerhouses and FCS teams keep happening. Towson’s trip to Columbia was not simply a competitive scheduling decision.
FCS programs routinely take road games against Power Four teams because the payouts can provide a major boost to athletic departments with much smaller football budgets. Reports stated that Towson received $550,000 from South Carolina for the game. Still, the coaches and players don’t just want to play for the sake of the money involved.
“We’ve known that this game was on our schedule for a long time. We knew it came after Navy. We want our guys to enjoy the experience but get better in the process,” Townson head coach Pete Shinnick said in the pre-game presser. “This is a whole unique experience now. SEC, at night, under the lights, they do a fantastic job.”
South Carolina entered the game after opening the season with a 57-0 win over Kent State. Towson had already lost 42-15 at Navy the previous week. The Tigers were, therefore, playing their second FBS opponent in two weeks, with the South Carolina game coming at Williams-Brice Stadium. The difference showed in the final statistics. The Gamecocks won 45-9 and dominated in every metric.