JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Oct. 5, 2024) – With the score tied at 10-10 late in the fourth quarter, Chattanooga scored the go-ahead touchdown with 43 seconds remaining to outlast the ETSU football team by a score of 17-10. With Saturday's loss, the Bucs move to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in SoCon play.
Saturday's Standouts – Offensively, the Bucs received good performances from a few players on Saturday.
Devontae Houston, who missed the last few games, led the charge on the ground with 59 rushing yards on 11 carries (5.4 average).
AJ Johnson had his best receiving game as a Buc totaling four receptions for 70 yards and hauled in ETSU's lone touchdown on the day.
Defensively,
William McRainey totaled 12 tackles to lead the charge.
Chris Hope added eight tackles of his own with a sack.
Ty Anderson,
Ray Coney and
Zach West were not far behind with six tackles a piece as well.
Nick Hunter recorded ETSU's lone interception on the day. It was his second pick of the 2024 campaign.
How it Happened – The first two quarters of Saturday's contest did not see much offense between the Bucs and Mocs. The first big swing of momentum came midway through the first quarter when Hunter collected a tipped pass by Hope and brought it deep into Chattanooga territory. Taking over at Chattanooga's 29-yard line, the Buc offense did not gain much ground and missed a 46-yard field goal to keep the game scoreless.
On its next offensive possession, Chattanooga also had a field goal chance (52 yards) but that try also went wide left. The two in-state rivals ended the first 15 minutes scoreless. The last time the Bucs and their opponent did not score in the opening quarter of a game was last year's homecoming game against Mercer.
As the second quarter began, Chattanooga turned the Buccaneers over on downs on the UTC 39-yard line. The Buc defense held the Moc offense in check except for a 30-yard pass completion that put Chattanooga on ETSU's 31. The Blue & Gold allowed just one more yard on the drive, but a 48-yard field goal Jude Kelley gave the Mocs the first lead of the day, 3-0, with 12:05 to go before halftime.
Suddenly facing a deficit, the Bucs put together their best offensive drive to date following the Chattanooga field goal.
Jaylen King and
Bryson Irby combined for 20 yards on the ground, and a 13-yard reception by
Xavier Gaillardetz moved the Bucs into opponent territory. However, the drive stalled, and the Bucs were forced to punt. The defenses continued to dominate play for the remainder of the first half allowing 42 yards on 21 plays (2.0 yards per play) combined and the two teams went to the locker room with Chattanooga still on top, 3-0.
An ETSU missed field goal and a Chattanooga punt started the second half but the Bucs got their offense clicking a bit with their second possession. King scrambled for an 18-yard gain to get things started. A pair of catches from Johnson totaled 22 yards and a 17-yard run by Houston was enhanced by a Chattanooga penalty putting ETSU on UTC's 13-yard line. ETSU would gain six more yards, and a pass fell incomplete in the endzone to force a field goal try.
Ewan Johnson would get the Bucs on the board with a 24-yard make to knot the game at 3-3.
As quickly as the Bucs tied it, the Mocs rapidly took the lead back. Chattanooga connected on a pair of passes of over 30 yards with the second, which was a 38-yard strike, scored the first touchdown of the game for either side as the Mocs went up 10-3 with 4:52 to go in the third.
The score would remain 10-3 UTC entering the fourth quarter. The Blue & Gold were able to flip the field position as
Nate Brackett connected on a season-long 65-yard punt to pin the Mocs deep in their own territory. Looking for a spark,
Gino English entered the game at quarterback for the Bucs. English led the Bucs on an eight-play 55-yard touchdown drive. It looked like the drive would be stopped twice on an interception and then on a bad snap that went over English's head. But a Chattanooga penalty negated the interception, and the Bucs were able to jump on the bad snap. Facing a third-and-16, English found Johnson on a clutch 25-yard touchdown to pull the Bucs even, 10-10, with 6:33 to go.
Just like they did after ETSU's field goal, Chattanooga answered on its next drive. In a tied game, the Mocs put together an 11-play, 75-yard drive and ran it in from a yard out to go back on top, 17-10. On the play before the touchdown, the UTC ball carrier fumbled at the one-yard line and the Bucs jumped on it in the endzone. Instead of a touchback, the play went under review and the runner was ruled down at the one-yard line leading into UTC's go-ahead score.
On top of facing a deficit again, the Bucs only had 36 seconds left to try and tie it after Chattanooga drained nearly six minutes (5:50) off the clock with its final scoring drive. A nine-yard pass completion from English to
Hakeem Meggett on first down was followed by an incompletion. English was then intercepted to not only put an end to ETSU's drive but also its comeback hopes, and Chattanooga finished off the 17-10 win.
Other Notes on the Bucs
· Saturday marks the first time this season that the Bucs have been held under 180 yards rushing (117). ETSU came into the game ranked sixth nationally averaging 254.2 rushing yards per contest.
· McRainey's 12-tackle game was the most by an ETSU player this season. After his 12-tackle outing, McRainey takes over the team lead in tackles with 39.
Ray Coney (38) and
Chris Hope (38) are not far behind McRainey on ETSU's tackling charts.
· Saturday's attendance was 10,534 fans, which is the third-most in Bank of Tennessee Field at William B. Greene, Jr. Stadium's history trailing only the North Dakota State game earlier this season (11,040) and a game vs. Mercer in 2021 (10,594). The Bucs have now had capacity crowds in 15 of their last 17 games and 30 of the 40 total games played inside Greene Stadium.
· Chattanooga possessed the ball nearly an entire quarter more than the Bucs did on Saturday (37:06 to 22:54).
· The Buccaneers went 2-for-2 in redzone trips against the Mocs to improve to 22-for-24 on redzone chances this season. With six games to go in the regular season, the Bucs have already passed last season's total of redzone scores (21).
· Brackett had one of his best punting days of the season averaging 48.3 yards per punt, including a season-long 65-yarder in the fourth quarter. Brackett also had a net average of his punts of 45.0 on the day.
ETSU will remain home next weekend when it welcomes Samford to Johnson City on Saturday. Kickoff between the Buccaneers and Bulldogs is set for 3:30 p.m.
For more information on Buccaneer football, visit
ETSUBucs.com and click on the football tab.
