SPARTANBURG, S.C. (Oct. 26, 2024) – Behind a stellar defensive effort and 209 rushing yards, the ETSU football team tallied its third straight road victory as the Buccaneers defeated Wofford, 24-7, on Saturday afternoon in Spartanburg. The victory improves to ETSU's record to 5-3 on the season and 3-1 in SoCon play. Additionally, Saturday marked ETSU's first win over Wofford in Spartanburg since November 8, 1997.
Saturday's Standouts – The Buccaneer defense held Wofford to just nine first downs and 178 yards in the win. Wofford had just one first down offensively in the first two quarters and the Bucs had eight tackles for loss for the third straight game.
Offensively, the Bucs had 200-plus yards rushing for the fifth time in 2024. Leading the rushing attack was quarterback
Jaylen King with 88 yards on 12 carries (7.3 avg.) and two touchdowns.
Bryson Irby added 67 yards on 17 rushes in his return to action. King, who threw for 198 yards in the win as well, found nine different receivers against Wofford.
Karim Page led all Buccaneer pass catchers with five catches and a career-high 88 receiving yards.
How it Happened – ETSU had its chances to score first early on in Saturday's contest but came up empty. The Bucs' first drive of the afternoon came to an end on a fake punt on fourth-and-four that was not successful. Starting their first drive of the game in ETSU territory, the Terrier offense went three-and-out to promptly give the Bucs the ball back.
An outstanding Wofford punt pinned the Bucs at their own two-yard line to begin their second drive. The Blue & Gold marched down the field on a drive that lasted over five minutes and 14 plays. ETSU nearly reached the red zone but a six-yard loss pushed the Bucs back to the 30-yard line for a 47-yard field goal attempt, which went wide of the mark.
Wofford did not get the game's first points on its next drive but put the Bucs deep into their own territory (12-yard line) once again. ETSU got one first down, but an interception turned the ball back over to the Terriers and the two teams were scoreless after 15 minutes of action.
A punt by each team and another interception for Wofford interception led into the next scoring chance. Wofford attempted a 38-yard field goal but that try also went outside of the uprights to keep the score locked at 0-0.
The Buccaneer offense would finally break the tie after getting the ball back after the missed field goal by Wofford. ETSU's offense put together a 13-play, 69-yard drive that nearly lasted six minutes. The lengthy drive by the Bucs led to a 28-yard field goal by
Ewan Johnson. Johnson's 28-yard try was good and gave the Bucs a 3-0 lead. It is just the third time in eight games that the Bucs have scored first.
ETSU's defense continued to stifle the Wofford offense.
Ty Anderson had a big sack to put the Wofford behind the sticks to help the cause.
Using all three of their timeouts to get another possession, the Bucs had a chance to add to their lead with 1:33 to go before halftime. ETSU looked like it may add to its lead as Johnson had his third field goal attempt of the contest with this one being a 39-yard attempt. Wofford, however, blocked Johnson's kick for the final play of the half to keep the score at 3-0 Bucs.
As the second half began, the Terriers got one first down but then the Bucs forced a punt. A high snap threw off the timing for Wofford's punter and he tried to run or pass it but
Teddy Wilson forced a fumble and
Elijah Taylor picked it up and returned it for a touchdown to extend ETSU's lead to 10-0.
Wofford, which had been held to two first downs in the game to this point, answered immediately on its next possession. The Terriers connected on a 29-yard passing touchdown with 7:09 to go in the third to make the score 10-7 ETSU.
On their next drive, the Bucs leaned into their league-leading rushing offense. 69 of the team's 75 yards on the drive were on the ground.
Bryson Irby had three runs of eight yards or more and
Devontae Houston reeled off an 18-yard run. Those runs set up King to find a crease in the Terrier defense and find the end zone to give ETSU its first offensive touchdown.
The defense stopped the Terrier offense again to give the ball back to the Bucs. King would break off another big run, this one for 31 yards, to find the end zone for the second time in as many drives to put the Bucs up 24-7.
With its largest advantage of the afternoon, the ETSU defense continued to keep the Wofford offense in check and did not allow another point to close out the Bucs' third win in the last four matchups against the Terriers.
Other Notables on the Bucs
· With his 88 rushing yards on Saturday, King now has 408 yards on the ground this season. King's 408 yards now rank as the third-most by an ETSU quarterback in program history behind Jeff Morgan's rushing totals of 564 and 475 yards in 1987 and 1986.
· Saturday's win was ETSU's first in Spartanburg since 1997. The victory was also the team's third straight road win. The last time the Bucs won three straight away from Johnson City was during the same 1997 campaign when they defeated Furman, Wofford and VMI in a row.
· The trio of
William McRainey,
Ryan Barrett and
Ray Coney led the defensive charge with five tackles each on Saturday. With those five stops, McRainey needs just 16 more tackles to reach 400 for his collegiate career.
· The seven points allowed by the Bucs are the fewest in a road game since defeating Robert Morris 45-3 in 2022. It is also the fewest ETSU has allowed in a league game since September 28, 2002 at Western Carolina when ETSU won 27-7.
· ETSU had a new season-high in time of possession on Saturday holding the ball for 34:06. The Bucs also had 34 minutes of possession in last season's win over Wofford (34:35).
Next Up – The Bucs will aim to keep things rolling on the road next Saturday when they visit nationally-ranked Mercer. Kickoff for that game is set for 3 p.m. from Macon.
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