The ETSU football team traveled to Lexington, Virginia, to take on the undefeated Virginia Military Institute Keydets on April 3. After a hard-fought battle against the resilient Keydets, the Bucs were victorious by a score of 24-20, ending VMI’s undefeated streak.
VMI came out strong with a touchdown and field goal in the first quarter, but ETSU standout running back Quay Holmes (Powder Springs, Georgia) scored an early touchdown as well, making the score 10-7 in favor of the Keydets to close out the first quarter.
The game remained tight throughout — both teams scored a field goal in the second quarter, and a touchdown in the third quarter.
“We got some guys who play hard,” said Bucs head coach Randy Sanders. “The way the game started, with the first couple of possessions, with them being able to move the ball like they did, I thought they had a good plan starting out, and I thought we had a good plan starting out. They came out rolling, making some plays, but the great thing was our team just settled down, they just kept playing.”
The Bucs were trailing at the beginning of the fourth quarter by a score of 20-17. With another touchdown from Holmes, ETSU moved ahead and was able to hold the score at 24-20 through the end of the game. Holmes finished the day with an excellent stat-sheet — 29 carries, 135 yards and two touchdowns.
“We came into this game with the mindset of it was going to be a championship game, so that’s how we attacked it,” Holmes said after the game. “We have to handle business. We know that we have to do our job and we have to win to control our destiny.”
Winning against VMI puts the Bucs at an overall score of 5-1, with potentially only one more regular season game remaining, the Chattanooga game previously being canceled. The Bucs are traveling to Macon, Georgia, on April 10 to play what may be their last regular season game against Mercer, if no rescheduling takes place.
“We can’t worry about anything from the outside,” Holmes said. “We won today, and we have to win next week and we have to see what happens from there.”
