It was a rough evening for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team Saturday against Western Carolina - and not just on the scoreboard.
A number of key injuries plagued the Mocs in their 45-7 home loss, including blows that ended the game for quarterbacks Alejandro Bennifield and Nick Tiano.
Bennifield, who was playing for the first time after missing the first four games of the season due to an NCAA suspension, took a big shot from Tahjai Watt late in the first quarter and ended up in an ambulance.
"You have to feel bad for Dro. I know I did personally," UTC coach Tom Arth said. "The entire team felt for him in that moment. To be back and take a hit like that to knock him out of a game is a tough situation, but there was no panic at all with Nick coming in. I think you feel bad for Dro because he put so much into it, and to come back and get knocked out in the first quarter, I feel bad for him."
After a night of taking big hits, Tiano finally succumbed to a shoulder injury on the second play of the fourth quarter and didn't return. Prior to his injury, Tiano threw for 88 yards and rushed for 22, including a 19-yard run on his final drive.
Redshirt freshman Dominic Caldwell finished the game, throwing a touchdown pass to Darrell Bridges four plays later.
Arth went with Caldwell instead of promising freshman Cole Copeland, not wanting to burn the latter's redshirt in the event that either Bennifield or Tiano - or both - can come back this week against Furman. He said preliminary test results came back negative on both players.
In addition, defensive back Markell Boston missed the second half with an arm injury, long snapper Jared Nash left with a lower body injury and Isaiah Mack was taken out favoring his shoulder late in the game.
"It was a really physical game," safety Lucas Webb said. "You get a couple guys hurt starting out and that's really unfortunate, but you can't worry about it. You just have to go out there, play full speed and give it your all."
Notes
The Mocs set a season high with four sacks, led by Tavon Lawson's 1.5. He also had 3.5 tackles for loss. Caldwell's first collegiate pass ended in a score. Bingo Morton set a career high with six catches and has 11 grabs over the past two weeks. Not only did 21 consecutive of the Catamounts' 45 points come on turnovers, but 14 came directly from fumbles recovered in the end zone. The next touchdown came from a fumble covered at the 1.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.