CHARLESTON, S.C. — In the middle of what looked like a monsoon Saturday at Johnson Hagood Stadium, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga was 120 seconds away from finding a ray of sunshine in an otherwise dismal football season.

Instead, Andre Roberts did what he does best — make a game-changing play. The Citadel’s top playmaker scored on a 43-yard punt return with 1:46 remaining to lift the Bulldogs to a 24-21 win — ending their losing streak at six games while extending UTC’s to nine.

“I hate it for these guys,” Rodney Allison said about the Mocs after his final road game as their coach. “I really wanted to see them win this game. We made some mistakes in the fourth quarter, but we had our chances. We can’t figure out a way to win.”

Roberts, the Southern Conference’s leading receiver and a Walter Payton Award candidate, finished with 246 all-purpose yards, including nine catches for 116 and six carries for 43.

Said The Citadel coach Kevin Higgins: “The bottom line is, if he has the ball in his hands, it has a chance to be a good play.”

The game-winner was a great play for the Bulldogs (4-7, 2-6) and the few thousand rain-soaked fans who weathered the heavy rain and strong winds that changed the game in the second half. Many of the Mocs (1-10, 0-7) said this loss hurt far more than the nine that preceded it.

“There’s no comparison. This hurts so much worse,” said UTC wide receiver Blue Cooper, who had two catches for 59 yards and a touchdown. “You look back at all the little-bitty things that happened, and it just kills you.”

Before Saturday, UTC’s closest loss was 27-7 at Western Carolina on Nov. 1.

This game, played in cloudy conditions with a homecoming crowd of 14,213 on hand, looked early on like it could be another blowout as The Citadel jumped out to a 14-0 lead on two Terrell Dallas touchdown runs.

But this time the Mocs bounced back. Quarterback Jare Gault hit Chris Pitchford for a 40-yard touchdown with 10:50 to play in the second quarter, and nearly seven minutes later Buster Skrine blocked a 36-yard field-goal attempt and J.D. Dothard returned it 64 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 14.

“The ground was so wet, the ball just stood there (after Skrine’s block) and I picked it up and took off with it,” Dothard, a redshirt freshman safety, said of his first career touchdown.

The Citadel kicked a 38-yard field goal before halftime for a 17-14 lead, but it was short-lived because Skrine set the UTC offense up in the third quarter by returning the opening kickoff 56 yards to the Bulldogs’ 36-yard line. Two plays later, Gault (11-for-17 for 182 yards) hit Cooper for a 31-yard touchdown to give the Mocs their first second-half lead since the win over Cumberland on Sept. 6.

The fourth quarter started with turnovers on four straight possessions: a fumble by Dallas and an interception by Bart Blanchard (18-for-33 for 221 yards) for The Citadel and fumbles by UTC running back Erroll Wynn and fullback Brent Hayes, the last recovered at the Bulldogs’ 49 with 6:43 remaining.

The Citadel was able to drive to the UTC 7, but on fourth-and-1 Roberts was stopped by Raeshon Ball and Neil Brown for no gain, giving UTC the ball at its 12 with 3:21 to play. After two runs by Wynn gained a combined 3 yards, Gault tried to run for the first down on third-and-7 and came up 2 yards short.

The Mocs have had punting issues often this season, especially deep in their territory but punter Jeff Lloyd got the rugby-style kick off and it went up the right side of the field, where Roberts was waiting for it. Roberts stiff-armed Jarvis Newson, the only tackler to touch him, and sprinted around the right side for the touchdown.

“I saw the end zone and a wide-open field,” Roberts said.

The Mocs will wrap up their season, and Allison’s career, this Saturday at home against Samford.

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