Pride helps UTC defense put together strong finish [photos]

UTC defensive back Kareem Orr tackles ETSU defensive back Markell Boston during the Mocs' season finale Saturday at Finley Stadium. The Mocs prevailed 10-3, giving them wins in two of their final three games.
UTC defensive back Kareem Orr tackles ETSU defensive back Markell Boston during the Mocs' season finale Saturday at Finley Stadium. The Mocs prevailed 10-3, giving them wins in two of their final three games.

One final time, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga defense led the way.

All last week, UTC defensive players heard about how they were going up against the second-best quarterback in the Southern Conference, East Tennessee State University's Austin Herink. Their goal going into Saturday's season finale was to remind the Buccaneers, and quite possibly all of the SoCon, they were still one of the league's best defenses, regardless of the team's win-loss record.

So they stuffed the ETSU rushing attack. They made Herink, a Cleveland High School graduate, beat them while not giving him much to work with in terms of downfield production - ETSU's longest play was a 20-yard completion to Anthony Spanoletti on the game's last series.

All the while, the Mocs were creating pressure, with 12 quarterback hurries and numerous hits on Herink.

photo UTC defensive back Rashun Freeman (25) tackles ETSU defensive back Domenique Williams (1) during the Mocs' final home football game of the season against the ETSU Buccaneers at Finely Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn.

"Austin is a great player. I have so much respect for his game, the way he plays," UTC coach Tom Arth said. "Today you saw how tough he was. He kept coming back, making big throws.

"We knew he kind of makes them go, so it was really important to affect the quarterback, and you do that by changing up coverages, giving different looks and being able to apply pressure, so I think our defensive line did a great job of that, our linebackers as well. Some of our secondary, we had different pressures off the edge to get him off his spot and get him a little uncomfortable, get some hits on him. We didn't have a ton of sacks, but we were able to get some hits, which is always important."

The 10-3 win was special to the Mocs (3-8, 3-5) not only because it put them in a tie with The Citadel for sixth in the final league standings, it was special because the unit that had carried UTC for much of the year was instrumental in making it happen. Herink finished 13-for-37 for 92 yards, while the Bucs finished with only 116 yards of total offense - their lowest total since gaining 143 yards against UTC in 2016.

In the last three games of the season, against Samford and ETSU (two of the top three passing offenses in the league) and Wofford (which has the SoCon's best rushing attack and won the league), the Mocs allowed 367, 233 and 116 yards, respectively, and a total of 45 points.

They finished the regular season second in the league in total defense, first against the pass and fifth against the run. All the while they allowed 32 touchdowns, tied with Furman for second-fewest in the league this season.

"We wanted to close the season out by showing that we're still one of the top defensive teams in the country. We certainly did that today," senior linebacker Tae Davis said. "We killed the run and the passing game by getting pressure on the quarterback.

"We really did that tonight."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.

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