Despite a morning hail storm and several weather delays, ETSU’s football team found a path to victory on March 27, largely thanks to 350 yards on the ground, giving the Bucs a 24-17 win over the Western Carolina Catamounts.
The Catamounts accepted the ball to begin the game, which proved to be beneficial, as quarterback Ryan Glover found pay-dirt after going 5-5 through the air, before throwing a touchdown to give the Western Carolina an early lead.
The 7-0 advantage was short-lived though, as the Bucs countered with a balanced offensive attack of runs and passes, which led to a rushing touchdown, courtesy of ETSU quarterback Brock Landis (Hoschton, Georgia) on the following possession.
The matchup happened to be Landis’ first start for ETSU — thanks to his ability to run. ETSU head coach Randy Sanders went on to explain the thought process behind benching the Bucs’ former lead-man Tyler Riddell (Tampa, Florida) in favor of the Junior dual-threat passer.
“Tyler was making really good decisions for the most part, I just felt like with this team, we needed more,” Sanders explained. “We have two really good backs and then we added a quarterback who can run it. I’m excited about adding him into the mix with the run game as well as the pass game. I think we have a chance to be pretty dynamic offensively for the rest of the way going forward.”
Landis was one of three Buccaneers to have success running the football on Saturday. After a week of preparation and game-planning, Sanders admitted that the Bucs’ coaching staff knew they had to win on the ground to come away with a victory.
“Western Carolina had been struggling stopping the run,” Sanders said. “They have some injuries on their defensive side and we knew that it was probably their biggest weakness. We knew that that’s where we needed to exploit.”
Running back Quay Holmes (Powder Springs, Georgia) benefitted from the plan, gathering nearly 200 yards rushing while netting two touchdowns in the process.
The former Southern Conference Freshman of The Year touched on his success after the game.
“It was definitely fun,” Holmes said. “It was good to come out from the jump and establish the run game. That’s something that we really paid attention to in practice. We knew that their run defense wasn’t as good, so we really wanted to go out there and expose that. It was good to be able to set the tone and establish attitude.”
ETSU’s rushing attack was not the only beneficiary from the in-conference matchup, as the Bucs set a new record for the longest field goal made in school history, thanks to a 54-yard make from Tyler Keltner (Tallahassee, Florida).
Sanders, who has rolled the dice on many occasions this season, decided to go for the attempt after receiving confirmation from his second-year kicker.
“I promise you I didn’t ask him if he knew what the school record was,” Sanders said. “Honestly, I let the clock run down as long as possible to try and leave as little time. The only thing I really said to him was, ‘can you make it?’ I’m glad he didn’t lie to me.”
The Bucs now move to 3-1 in the Southern Conference. And though the Saturday victory is a step in the right direction, Sanders’ comments may be an even bigger indication of further success for ETSU.
“This postgame locker room ranks right up there,” Sanders said. “Probably the best post game locker room I’ve ever been in. I’ve been apart of two national championship locker rooms, I’ve been apart of a number of SEC and ACC championship locker rooms and I’ve been apart of a Southern Conference locker room. These last three [games] rank right there with it.”
