It has taken all season, but Buc football finally broke out against UT-Chattanooga (3-8, 3-4 SoCon) beating them 68-7 and stopping their 12-game SoCon winless streak. No one expected the kind of route that saw ETSU (4-7, 1-6 SoCon) set a scoring record and its players jump old hurdles as well.
The Bucs broke their own scoring record of 62 points in a single game. The old record was against Charleston Southern in 1992. Matt Palmer, senior linebacker, broke the record for tackles for a loss and senior running back Gaven Varner ran for 1,000 yards, the first Bucs player to do that since 1999.
So many positives happened for the Bucs Saturday that it’s hard to know where to start.
In the first quarter, Nick Spearman fumbled and UTC’s Leonard Mays recovered at the ETSU 41-yard line. The Mocs scored on a 1-yard run by Kyle Oden to put UTC up 7-0 early in the first quarter.
But that would be the last bright spot UTC would see all day.
On the Bucs’ fifth drive, Carl Meadows connected with wide receiver Andrew Nuckolls for a 20-yard gain to put the Bucs within scoring distance on the UTC 27-yard line. Andre Brooks scored on a 1-yard run to tie the game 7-7.
After going up 14-7 at the beginning of the second quarter on a Varner 7-yard touchdown run, the Bucs turned back around and Meadows again connected with Nuckolls for a 32-yard touchdown catch to make the game 21-7. Nuckolls had 63 yards receiving and one touchdown Saturday.
ETSU scored 41 of its 68 points in the second quarter. Primus Glover intercepted a Vinnie Miroth pass and set the Bucs up for another Varner touchdown run from 3-yards out to make the score 28-7.
With 4:59 left in the first half, Montreal Harkley blocked a punt inside ETSU’s redzone and James Rainer recovered it in the endzone to put the Bucs up 35-7. Harkley then intercepted another Miroth pass that allowed for Meadows to hit Justin Cruze from 13 yards.
The Bucs’ lead was 41-7 after Jon Godfrey had his extra point blocked. Gerald Sensabaugh got in on the act and blocked a punt with 1:58 left in the first half. This then set up ETSU for a five-play, 33-yard scoring drive to make the game 48-7 at halftime.
UTC head coach Rodney Allison was astonished after the game. UTC had impressive wins against Western Carolina and a comeback against No. 25 Citadel last week.
“We got out-coached and out played today,” Allison said. “Everything that could go wrong went wrong for us today. I don’t know, we just got out-coached.”
Head Coach Paul Hamilton was pleased with his team.
“I’m real proud of this team,” he said. “I think we are kind of an amazing story.”
Saturday’s game was amazing, seeing that ETSU had struggled the most in the middle two quarters. In the third quarter this Saturday, ETSU shined.
The Moccasins’ first drive was again plagued by ETSU’s tough defense. Sensabaugh stripped a complete pass from Barrett Brightwell on the UTC 39.
Varner ran for a 23-yard gain to put the Bucs on the Mocs’ 15-yard line. Meadows then scored on a 10-yard quarterback sneak. Arms raised, Meadows made the game 54-7.
“This offense was great today,” Meadows said. “They were opening holes that my mom could have run through. If this were a 16-week NFL season, we would have a real chance in the SoCon.”
The most spectacular play of the game came when Allen Davis intercepted another Miroth pass and ran it back for a 90-yard touchdown. This was the third longest interception run in ETSU history, making the game 61-7. Davis had 51-punt return yards and one interception on the day.
The Bucs’ final score of the day came in style as walk-on Joseph Gosman rushed for 9 yards to drive the nail in the coffin, 68-7. Hamilton said Gosman was the “Rudy” of the team.
Gosman said it was all right for him to be called a Rudy. “This season has been tough for everyone,” said Gosman when asked about his tenure at ETSU.
“Everyone has made decisions this season that nobody wants to make, including the coaches and players,” he said.
When Hamilton was asked if his team finally brought it all together today, he finally got emotional. He choked up for a minute with tears in his eyes.
“I’ve said before that all some of these guys need is another spring practice,” he said. “We prepared for today’s game the way we always did. The players do exactly what I asked them to do everyday in the games and practice.”
ETSU notes:
The Bucs’ 68 points was just six shy of scoring against all SoCon opponents combined. If they would have scored one more touchdown, they would have matched their 74 points scored against all others SoCon opponents this season.
ETSU defense shut down the top-ranked passer in the SoCon, UTC quarterback Miroth, to only 84 yards passing. They also sacked him three times and intercepted three passes.
Defensively, the Bucs forced the Mocs to punt eight times and held them to five for 18 on third-down conversions.
The Bucs were six of 10 on third-down conversions. In total offense, ETSU had 387 yards.

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