JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Nov. 9, 2024) – In front of the largest crowd in the history of Bank of Tennessee Field at William B. Greene, Jr. Stadium (12,109 fans), the ETSU football team treated the home faithful to a 24-21 win over No. 22 Western Carolina on Saturday afternoon in the annual Blue Ridge Border Battle. Saturday's victory boosts ETSU's record to 6-4 overall and 4-2 in SoCon play.
Saturday's Standouts – The Buccaneer defense turned in yet another stellar outing on Saturday. Facing the SoCon's best offense in terms of total offense per game, the Bucs made their share of plays to help fuel the win for the Bucs.
Ray Coney set a new career-high with 17 tackles on the day with 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. ETSU totaled a season-high eight sacks in the victory with 3.5 of those coming from senior captain
Zach West. West is up to 8.5 sacks on the season, which is the most by an ETSU player in a season since the return of the program in 2015 and the second-most ever by a Buccaneer defender. With two games to go in the regular season, West is just 1.5 sacks shy of matching the single season program record of 10 by James Russell set in both 1994 and 1996.
After forcing just four turnovers through the first five games of SoCon play, the Buc defense totaled three in Saturday's win over Western Carolina. ETSU forced three fumbles (two recoveries) and an interception. West added a fumble recovery and forced another to add to his stellar Saturday.
Cam Sims tallied the interception for the Bucs, which was his first in a Buccaneer uniform to go with six tackles and three pass breakups.
Offensively, the Bucs totaled 328 yards (174 rushing, 154 passing) in Saturday's win over WCU. The tandem of
Bryson Irby (79 yards) and
Devontae Houston (64 yards) combined for over 140 yards on the ground, while quarterback
Gino English ran for 26 yards as well.
English, who was making his first collegiate start, threw for 154 yards and two touchdowns in his starting debut.
Xavier Gaillardetz and
Ephraim Floyd both tallied touchdown catches in the win, while
AJ Johnson led Buccaneer pass catchers with 58 yards on two catches (27 avg.). It was the fourth time in the last five games that Johnson has had 50 or more receiving yards.
How it Happened
First Quarter
ETSU 3, WCU 0 – In a rare occurrence, the Bucs won the toss and took the football to start Saturday's contest. The strategy paid off with points for ETSU as the Bucs put together a 12-play drive that covered 53 yards. That drive ended with a 40-yard field goal from
Ewan Johnson to give the Bucs the early 3-0 lead. It marked the second straight week that Johnson has made a field goal 40 yards or longer (44 yards – at Mercer).
ETSU 10, WCU 0 – The first key defensive play came on the opening drive for the Catamounts. West forced a fumble on a sack and
Brenden LeBlanc grabbed the ball before it hit the ground and set the Bucs up with great field position at WCU's 21-yard line. An eight-yard run by Irby and then a 13-yard strike from English to Floyd in back left corner of the end zone put the Bucs up two scores with 8:42 to go in the first quarter.
ETSU 10, WCU 7 – Facing a ten-point deficit, Western Carolina cut into the ETSU lead before the end of the first with a drive filled with multiple chunk plays. A 45-yard completion was the largest of the bunch to put Western Carolina deep into Buccaneer territory for the first time. An 11-yard touchdown pass completed the drive for the Catamounts made the score 10-7 Bucs at the tail end of the first quarter.
Third Quarter
ETSU 17, WCU 7 – After a scoreless second quarter, the next score came in the third. The next scoring drive for the Bucs was set up by another fumble.
Jaylen George caused this one and West jumped on it to give the Bucs the ball on WCU's 26-yard line. After a couple of short runs, English found Gaillardetz for his second touchdown catch of the season to push the Buccaneer advantage back to double digits, 17-7.
ETSU 17, WCU 14 – WCU connected on another long pass (34 yards) to set up another chance later in the third quarter. Other than that long pass, eight of WCU's nine plays on their next scoring drive were on the ground. WCU quarterback Taron Dickens would run into the end zone on the final one to bring the Catamounts back within three with a little over five minutes to go in the third quarter.
WCU 21, ETSU 17 – Dickens would find the end zone for the second time to give Western Carolina its first lead of the afternoon later in the third quarter. On that drive, the Catamounts converted key third-and-longs (3
rd & 7, 3
rd & 8) to keep the drive going and eventually put up points.
Fourth Quarter
ETSU 24, WCU 21 – The final score of the game came with just under six minutes left in the fourth quarter. Even though this scoring drive was not set up by a Catamount turnover, it was very similar. The Buc defense pushed the Catamounts back 16 yards and then WCU followed that with a short 21-yard punt to give ETSU the ball on their 28-yard line. This time the Bucs started the drive with four straight runs by Irby before Houston broke loose and scored from 14 yards out to give ETSU the lead back, 24-21. It was Houston's first touchdown since the season opener at Appalachian State.
Protecting a three-point lead with 5:55 to go in the game, the ETSU defense stepped up again and forced a Catamount punt with a little over three minutes remaining. The Buccaneer running game gained enough yards to force WCU to burn their timeouts and the visitors could not get the ball back finishing off the 24-21 win for ETSU.
Other Notables on the Bucs
· Saturday's win was ETSU's first over a nationally-ranked team since 2021 when they defeated No. 4 Kennesaw State in the FCS Playoffs.
· The eight sacks by the Bucs on Saturday were the most by the program since the spring season in 2021 when they also totaled eight in a game vs. Samford. Saturday's outing also brings ETSU's sack total to 34.0 on the season more than doubling the team's total from a season ago (15.0).
· With seven total tackles in Saturday's win, ETSU's senior linebacker
William McRainey has surpassed 400 tackles in his collegiate career. McRainey now has 403 tackles in his four-plus seasons that include his 70 tackles this season as a Buc.
· Saturday's win snapped a two-game losing skid for the Bucs against the Catamounts. It also marks the fifth time in the last seven games between these two programs that the game has been decided by one score.
· With the sixth win of the season, Head Coach
Tre Lamb is now tied for the third-most wins by a first-year Buccaneer Head Coach matching Star Wood's 1932 season win total. Only Randy Sanders (8 wins – 2018) and Paul Hamilton (7 wins – 1997) have won more in their first year leading the Bucs than Lamb.
Next Up – The Bucs will remain home next week as they welcome Furman to Johnson City. Saturday's game will be the team's Senior Day and Military Appreciation Day. Kickoff between the Bucs and Paladins is set for Noon.
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