CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior Clayton Crile's kick had just glanced off the left goalpost, his second field-goal attempt gone wrong in Saturday's game at Austin Peay, when Tennessee State Trooper Pumpy Tudors cornered him.
Tudors, a member of the UTC Athletics Hall of Fame and a two-time All-America punter from 1989-91, had a message for the Mocs' current kicker/punter after Crile had a 44-yard try blocked late in the third quarter before the miss from 38 yards early in the fourth.
“I just told him that one’s gone,” said Tudors, a prep star at Marion County before joining the Mocs. “He wasn’t going to get it back, so I told him to be ready because there’s going to be another one coming.
“He said, 'Yes, sir.'”
And that’s exactly what happened. Crile’s 35-yard kick as time expired propelled the Mocs to a 24-21 victory over the Governors as UTC made a triumphant return to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. The Mocs (8-4) are in the postseason for the fifth time overall and first time since reaching the second round in 2016, and now they have a second opportunity against seventh-seeded Furman at 1 p.m. next Saturday in Greenville, South Carolina.
The Paladins (9-2), who had a first-round bye this weekend as one of the eight seeds in the 24-team bracket, secured the Southern Conference’s automatic bid for the playoffs with a 17-14 win against UTC on Nov. 4 at Finley Stadium. The Mocs received one of the 14 at-large berths when the playoff field was announced this past Sunday, and they knew then that a win at Austin Peay (9-3) would secure a rematch with the SoCon champions.
UTC has held a lead in the fourth quarter against every FCS opponent it has faced this season, but that stat seemed to be in danger as the Mocs let an advantage that had been 21-7 at halftime slip away in the third quarter, with Austin Peay running back Jevon Jackson scoring the second of his two touchdowns and Tre Shackelford hauling in a 27-yard pass from Mike DiLiello to make it a tie game with 1:35 to go in that period.
The fourth quarter turned into a battle of field position, but after the Mocs got the ball back with 3:47 to play, redshirt freshman quarterback Luke Schomburg helped engineer a nine-play, 43-yard drive that ended in Crile’s winning kick.
“I trusted him,” said UTC fifth-year head coach Rusty Wright, a former Mocs player who was an assistant when the program made three straight postseason trips from 2014-16.
“I trust all these guys. I mean, this football team has been through a lot in a short amount of time this year. It feels like a long time, but it really hasn’t been, but that’s the thing: I trust all these guys to do what they’re supposed to do as well as they can. I knew Clayton wanted to redeem himself, and he did.”
USA Today Network photo by Jamar Coach / UTC tight end Jay Gibson (87) reels in a catch against an Austin Peay defender during Saturday's game in the first round of the FCS playoffs in Clarksville, Tenn.The Mocs were able to build a two-touchdown lead with Schomburg — making his second career start in place of the injured Chase Artopoeus, who also missed last week's regular-season finale at Football Bowl Subdivision power Alabama — throwing a touchdown pass to sophomore receiver Javin Whatley on a slant route, and senior Gino Appleberry, who took over as the starting running back last month when Ailym Ford's season was ended by injury, capping a 78-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.
There was some luck, too. Schomburg was intercepted late in the second quarter, but when Austin Peay’s Kory Chapman attempted to return his pick out of the end zone, the ball was ripped from his hands by Jamoi Mayes. The UTC receiver then turned around and dove in the end zone for an improbable touchdown with 14 seconds to play in the first half.
The Mocs played the second half without two-time reigning SoCon defensive player of the year Jay Person, whose arm was in a sling. In his absence, the Mocs limited the Governors to 300 yards, 138 below their season average, and forced them to punt on both of their last two possessions, the latter with 3:47 to play.
Austin Peay's Diliello was 12-for-22 passing for 107 yards and was sacked three times. Jackson rushed for 184 yards on 23 carries, but the Govs were unable to pick up a first down late when they needed it to keep driving.
“I trust all my teammates,” said UTC defensive lineman Marlon Taylor, who had a sack and two tackles for loss. “Whoever’s next, they just have to step up. We all just keep playing. We can only control what we can control.”
Schomburg completed 21 of 36 passes for 259 yards and was not sacked.
“Your confidence comes from your preparation, I believe,” Schomburg said. “Just preparing this week, before I knew I was going to get to start, preparing as if I was going to play each game."
Schomburg also said Artopoeus and offensive coordinator Joe Pizzo "helped me out a lot, making sure I’m prepared to go in and I know each play, the game plan, stuff like that. I’ve been preparing that way all year, so I just treat it like it’s any other game.”
Sophomore running back Reggie Davis led the Mocs in rushing with 97 yards, with Appleberry adding 64.
Alex Mitchell had nine tackles to lead UTC's defense.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.