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East Tennessee State University

wcu-recap-etsu-2025
52
Winner ETSU ETS 6-5 , 4-3
35
Western Caro. WCU 6-5 , 5-2
Winner
ETSU ETS
6-5 , 4-3
52
Final
35
Western Caro. WCU
6-5 , 5-2
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
ETS ETSU 10 14 14 14 52
WCU Western Caro. 0 28 7 0 35

Game Recap: Football |

ETSU rolls past Western Carolina in annual Blue Ridge Border Battle, 52-35

Fireworks offensively power Bucs to third straight win

CULLOWHEE, N.C. (Nov. 15, 2025) – The ETSU football team set a new single-game program record with six touchdown passes and racked up 638 yards of total offense on its way to a 52-35 victory over No. 25 Western Carolina on Saturday. The victory boosts ETSU's overall record to 6-5 and 4-3 in SoCon play.
 
ETSU threw for 394 yards in the victory over the Catamounts. Jacolby Criswell went 17-for-29 for 271 yards and three touchdowns. Jackson Byrd came in and played most of the second half and finished the day 5-for-8 passing for 123 yards and three touchdowns. The six total touchdown passes were the most ever by an ETSU team in a single game.
 
The running game for the Bucs was also stellar for ETSU, totaling 244 yards on the ground. Jason Albritton had a career day, rushing for 125 yards and a touchdown. Criswell added 58 yards on nine attempts to help the cause.
 
Jeremiah Harrison led ETSU's pass catchers with five receptions for 139 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Harrison, who tallied his first collegiate 100-yard receiving day, was not the only Buc to catch two touchdowns as Hakeem Meggett caught two as well and finished the day with four catches and 113 yards. Charlie Browder had a career day receiving with four catches for 52 yards. Cole Keller and Ephraim Floyd hauled in the other two touchdown passes for ETSU.
 
Defensively, Trevor Moffitt led the charge with 10 tackles and broke up three passes. Jivon Oggs and Ty Anderson added eight tackles apiece, and Mike Jenkins chipped in seven stops out of the secondary for the Bucs. Nick Hunter (one), Chris Davis Jr. (0.5), and Brian Alston (0.5) accounted for the sacks for ETSU.

 
SCORING PLAYS
FIRST QUARTER
  • ETSU 3, Western Carolina 0 – The Buccaneers began Saturday's contest on offense. The Blue and Gold put together a 12-play, 71-yard drive that took nearly five minutes off the clock. The Buc offense got the ball within the WCU five-yard line, but ETSU had to settle for a 21-yard field goal by Ewan Johnson to put the Bucs on top, 3-0.
  • ETSU 10, Western Carolina 0 – After no points were scored on the next two possessions, the Bucs increased their advantage. 11 yards rushing by Devontae Houston, along with a pair of Western Carolina penalties, pushed the Bucs into Catamount territory. A short completion led into a 38-yard strike from Criswell to Harrison for ETSU's first touchdown of the afternoon.

SECOND QUARTER
  • ETSU 10, Western Carolina 7 – As the first quarter came to an end, Western Carolina got the ball to the Buccaneer one-yard line. On the first play in the second, the Catamounts punched it across the goal line to shrink ETSU's lead to three.
  • ETSU 10, Western Carolina 14 – Western Carolina got the ball back thanks to an ETSU fumble. Starting at their own 29-yard line, the Catamounts methodically moved down the field. WCU converted a key fourth down to keep the drive alive and then finished things off with a one-yard touchdown run to give the Catamounts their first lead of the game.
  • ETSU 10, Western Carolina 21 – WCU has been an opportunistic team this season when it comes to causing turnovers. The Catamounts forced their second of the afternoon with a fumble. Western Carolina not only forced it the fumble, but it also scooped it up and returned it for a 43-yard touchdown.
  • ETSU 17, Western Carolina 21 – Suddenly finding itself down by two scores, ETSU did not panic. The drive began with a big play from Criswell to Meggett (24 yards) and then ended on another long pass between the two (38 yards) to pull the Bucs back within four, 21-17.
  • ETSU 17, Western Carolina 28 – A few short passes began Western Carolina's next drive. Facing a 3rd-and-3, the Catamounts struck on a big 58-yard pass play to push their lead back out to 11, 28-17.
  • ETSU 24, Western Carolina 28 – The Bucs got a little bit closer before the two teams retired to the locker room for halftime. Powered in large part by Albritton's 40 rushing yards, the Bucs moved deep into WCU territory. Facing a third down, Criswell found Keller on a six-yard touchdown, his first touchdown reception since September 13 against West Georgia.
THIRD QUARTER
  • ETSU 31, Western Carolina 28 – After the Buc defense stopped Western Carolina on a fourth down attempt on its first drive of the second half, the Buccaneer offense went to work. A 26-yard rocket from Criswell to Charlie Browder sparked the drive. A 20-yard scramble by Criswell got the Bucs inside the WCU 10-yard line. However, Criswell's helmet came off on the play, and he had to come out of the game to get checked out by the medical staff. A pair of runs led to Byrd finding Floyd on a five-yard touchdown pass. It was Byrd's first career touchdown pass and Floyd's second touchdown reception of the season.
  • ETSU 31, Western Carolina 35 – In what proved to be the final points of the day for Western Carolina, the Catamounts connected on another long pass (61 yards) for a touchdown to regain the lead.
  • ETSU 38, Western Carolina 35 – Taking over with less than two minutes to go in the third quarter, the Bucs had one more score in them in the frame. A 30-yard rush by Albritton got the drive started, and a couple of plays later, Byrd hit Meggett on a 42-yard pass to give the Bucs the lead again.
FOURTH QUARTER
  • ETSU 45, Western Carolina 35 – ETSU's next score was set up by an excellent play on special teams. Jackson Crosby got through WCU's front line to block a punt, and Elijah Taylor hopped on it at the Western Carolina five-yard line in the final seconds of the third quarter.
  • Albritton ran for four yards on the first play and then hammered it across the goal line to put the Bucs up by 10, 45-35.
  • ETSU 52, Western Carolina 35 – Western Carolina had chances to get back into it but missed a 30-yard field goal and was stopped on a 4th-and-1 on ETSU's one-yard line. The Bucs then went on a 10-play, 99-yard drive to put the game away. Byrd connected with Harrison for 40 yards to get ETSU out of the shadow of its own goal post. And then a few plays later, the freshman duo linked up again for 32 yards for a touchdown to wrap up the scoring.
Other News and Notes from Today's Game
  • With today's win, the Bucs have evened the all-time series against Western Carolina, 27-27-1. Saturday's victory also marks the first time that ETSU has won back-to-back games against WCU since the 2020 and 2021 campaigns.
  • The 638 yards of total offense are the most by an ETSU team since football returned in 2015. Saturday's effort was just 84 yards shy of the school record of 722 yards set back in 1999 against West Virginia Tech.
  • Devontae Houston ran for 44 rushing yards against the Catamounts. He needs just 53 more yards to enter the top 10 on ETSU's single-season rushing yard list.
  • The tandem of Criswell and Byrd completed 22 passes against Western Carolina's defense. The Bucs have now completed 224 passes this season, which is just 14 shy of breaking the single-season record of 237 set by the 1996 team.
  • With four more catches against WCU, Floyd now has 59 receptions this season. Floyd's 59 receptions in 2025 are the most by any Buccaneer receiver since the program returned in 2015. Furthermore, Floyd's 59 catches are the sixth-most in school history and the most since 1999.
  • With 10 points today, ETSU kicker Ewan Johnson became the sixth ETSU player to eclipse 200 points scored. Johnson, who has now scored 205 points during his career in a Buccaneer uniform, ranks behind only Quay Holmes (306 points), Tyler Keltner (299 points), Brandon Walker (264 points), JJ Jerman (253 points), and Jerry Chapman (237 points) on ETSU's all-time scoring list.
  • The 52 points scored by ETSU on Saturday are the most in a road game since the Bucs' trip to Cullowhee in 2021, when they scored 56.
  • It marks the second straight season that the Bucs have defeated the Catamounts when they've been nationally ranked (last year No. 24).
  • With 33 more first downs, the Bucs have now moved the chains 263 times this season. That ranks only behind the 1996 (281) and 2021 (280) teams in terms of first downs gained.
  • After totaling over 600 yards of total offense for the second straight week, the Bucs have racked up 4,899 yards this season. Only the 2021 (5,319) and 1996 (5,041) teams have gained more yards than the 2025 Buccaneers.
Next Up – The Bucs will close out the 2025 campaign next Saturday when they return home to host The Citadel at Bank of Tennessee Field at William B. Greene Jr. Stadium. Kickoff between the Bucs and Bulldogs is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
For more information on Buccaneer football, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the football tab.
 
 
 
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