Whoomp! There it is.
The ETSU Buccaneers (2-2) got a huge win at home, in front of an inexcusably small crowd. The Bucs faced off against conference rival Virginia Military Institute (2-2).
Head coach Paul Hamilton is now 6-0 against VMI. The win puts them at 1-0 in the conference, preparing them to lead the way for the league title.
ETSU set the tempo early with a 49-yard kickoff return by Andrew Nuckolls.
The starting QB, Jatavis Sanders, began the first drive by completing two passes in a row, one for 14 and the next for six.
After a short run by Gaven Varner and an incomplete pass, the Bucs faced a fourth down situation. Hamilton, trusting in his team, decided they could get the four yards. So on fourth-and-four Sanders completed a pass to Cecil Moore for eight yards and the first down. From there the Bucs ran the ball three straight times to bring up another fourth down.
The drive resulted in Jon Godfrey missing a field goal attempt, one of his two misses in the game.
VMI’s first drive started out much the same with Joey Gibson and John Bell making big plays through the air and on the ground. VMI’s first drive took them from their 20 to ETSU’s 16. VMI looked like they might take control of the game until, Montreal Harkley intercepted a Joey Gibson pass on the ETSU 4-yard line.
Harkley returned the interception for 38 yards to the ETSU 42-yard line. He had two interceptions on the night for 80 yards. That was “the best game I’ve played” since the Georgia Southern game last year, Harkley said.
The next Buc drive consisted of seven rushing plays and two passes for 58 yards. The biggest play in the drive was a run for 29 yards by Gaven Varner, who scored the Bucs first touchdown. The TD is the Bucs first touchdown in the first quarter this season. Varner finished the game with three touchdowns on the night.
The next time VMI got the ball, the ETSU defense came up big, not even allowing a first down and forcing a punt.
With 1:20 left to play in the quarter the Bucs started another drive. They drove 73 yards in just five plays, for a Nick Spearman touchdown that ended the first quarter with the Bucs up by 14-0.
The second quarter belonged to the Bucs.
ETSU came out with a vengeance forcing VMI to punt four times, with one of those being blocked by Andre Brooks. Jamal Rocke recovered the blocked punt at the VMI 5, setting up another Varner touchdown to make the score 21-0. The quarter included Harkley’s second interception, a forced fumble and recovery by Robbie Hardt, and two touchdown runs by Gaven Varner.
There really wasn’t much of a comparison between the two teams at the end of the first half. The score was 28-0 in favor of the Buccaneers.
VMI rushed the ball 14 times for 34 yards while ETSU rushed 28 times for 150 yards. Varner has the only 100-yard rushing game for the Bucs this season. “He could have rushed for 200 yards,” Hamilton said after the game (Varner injured his hamstring in the Bucs first offensive series during the third quarter).
Joey Gibson, VMI’s QB attempted 14 passes with only four completions and two interceptions.
Jatavis Sanders on the other hand attempted 19 passes with 13 completions and no interceptions. VMI accumulated 64 rushing yards while ETSU gained 275. The most yards ETSU has gained in an entire game this season was 298 against Mars Hill.
During half time the Buc faithful were very pleased with Hamilton’s decision to “stick with one QB.” When asked if they approved of Sanders they said, “Oh yes.” They also commented on the offensive lines improvement over the course of the season saying they were playing better than they had before.
“The line did a perfect job tonight,” Sanders said.
“We gelled tonight, we may gel the rest of the season,” Varner said.
The Keydets rallied in the third quarter. Joey Gibson completed a pass to Greg Carlson for 73 yards to start their first drive, which ended in the end zone with 11:30 on the clock.
The next time they got the ball they ran a flea flicker. Abey Malave-Lopez completed a 46-yard pass to Carlson from the receiver position. This put them on the ETSU 25. From there, six plays to pay dirt, the Keydets scored 14 points to make the game a little closer.
The Bucs began the fourth quarter with an amazing goal line stance.
VMI went from 1st and goal at the 9 to turnover on downs at the 1-yard line. Sanders threw an interception on the ensuing drive.
The Keydets took advantage of the turnover by getting another touchdown, making the score 28-21 in ETSU’s favor. Sanders redeemed himself on the following drive, with a late run of 21 yards for a touchdown.
All of the Buccaneer’s touchdowns were produced through a tremendous rushing attack. The next time VMI got the ball the Buc defense rerouted them by intercepting another pass. This time Justin Reinier came up with the play to stop VMI’s chances of coming back. The final score was 35-21.

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