The ETSU football team had a tough time finding traction in a one-sided game against one of the nation’s top FCS teams, The Citadel.
On Saturday, Oct. 29 the Bucs battled the No. 5 ranked team in Charleston, South Carolina in a game that would have been a great victory for the Bucs: Defeating the leaders of the Southern Conference.
The Citadel held their ground and started the game strong with a total of 31 points in the half. The Bucs got things going in the middle of the second quarter when ETSU quarterback Austin Herink (Cleveland, Tenn.) found receiver Drake Powell (Clinton, Tenn.) for a 52-yard pass.
This pass was the longest pass this season for ETSU, the longest catch of Powell’s career and Herink’s longest completion since playing for ETSU.
A few plays later, the Bucs went for it on a fourth down, and fullback Haddon Hill (Knoxville, Tenn.) found the end zone.
Hill scored his first collegiate touchdown and is now the fifth Buccaneer to score their first collegiate touchdown this season.
The Bucs could not score again, and The Citadel completed another touchdown and field goal, entering halftime ahead 31-7.
ETSU started the second half with a 22-yard field goal from sophomore JJ Jerman (Seymour, Tenn.) in the third quarter.
The Citadel was scoreless for the third quarter, but it didn’t take them long to heat back up as they shut out the Bucs in the final quarter and scored 14 unanswered points.
The Bucs were defeated 45-10.
Cam Jackson led the Citadel with 124 yards and two touchdowns. Overall they finished with 504 total offensive yards.
Herink finished with 157 yards for ETSU, with one touchdown and one interception. The Bucs ended the game with 253 total offensive yards.
Dylan Weigel (Pickerington, Ohio), Paul Hunter (Denton, Texas) and Ryan Powers (Jupiter, Fla.) all captured double digit tackles for the Bucs. There were no players from The Citadel’s defense to have more than six total tackles.
“I think we can take away some positives from this game that can help us moving forward,” said ETSU Head Coach Carl Torbush. “We have another tough game next week at Mercer, but we played them last year and we know what to expect from them. They beat us pretty soundly down there and we need to come ready to play from the start of the game.”
The Bucs will travel to Macon, Georgia next weekend to battle Mercer.
