UTC senior running back Keon Williams celebrates after scoring in the Mocs’ 31-13 win over the Wofford to clinch UTC’s first Southern Conference title in 30 years.The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s 13 seniors stood proudly with their families on the Finley Stadium turf before Saturday’s game, each one honored individually for their contributions.
But it was what that group did collectively once the game kicked off that was just as worthy of praise.
Inspired by the chance to claim the Southern Conference championship and the program’s first playoff berth in 30 years, each of those seniors did more than their share of the heavy lifting it took to knock off Wofford 31-13 and achieve those goals.
“You can’t win championships unless your team loves each other and has great chemistry,” Mocs coach Russ Huesman said. “I see that day in and day out, how they respond and interact with each other. What they accomplished out there is well deserved.
“With probably about a minute to go in the game I started looking for special guys, especially the seniors. The defensive guys were out on the field so I couldn’t grab them, but I wanted to talk to as many guys before it got chaotic. I grabbed Faysal (Shafaat) and Taharin (Tyson) and told them how glad I was they came here. I’m excited for those guys.”
In all three phases of the game, it was seniors who made sure there would be no repeat of the disappointment of last year when UTC let the chance to claim a playoff spot slip away.
Immediately after Wofford scored on the game’s third play to take the lead and momentum, Marquis Green began the gutty senior contributions with a 46-yard kickoff return that set up the offense in good shape to answer.
From there, his classmates continued to stuff the stat sheets with big plays. Keon Williams had a career-high 27 carries for 91 yards and three touchdowns, Tommy Hudson had eight touches for 90 yards — including a leaping 37-yard reception — Shafaat made a career-high eight catches for 68 yards, including a diving one-handed grab as he was falling out of bounds, plus a TD.
Fullback Tyson and offensive guard Mayes helped the Mocs roll up 382 yards of offense and when UTC was stopped, Nick Pollard averaged 58.3 yards per punt and pinned the Terriers inside the 20 three times.
Defensively, linebacker Muhasibi Wakeel led all tacklers with 13 stops, including 10 solo tackles, while end Davis Tull had seven tackles, two for loss and a half sack to tie the league’s career record.
“I don’t want the record to overshadow what we accomplished as a team today,” said Tull, who has 10 sacks in his last eight games and is the FCS active eader in tackles for loss (58) and forced fumbles (10). “But I do want to give a shout out to my teammates. People have always said I was a hustle player. I think it’s important to do that. The reason that I run so hard is I always pray before every game and I say I want to run hard for God and play for my teammates.
“Hopefully the plays will come your way, but even when they don’t you can control your effort every down. Keep running hard and good things will happen.”
Other defensive linemen Derrick Lott, Zach Rayl and Danny Ring combined for six tackles and another for loss.
“To come in and finish what we started, to go from 1-11 the year before most of us got here to see that turnaround with Coach Huesman has been crazy,” Tull added. “The best part honestly, that I can say about the game is after the last whistle blew all the young guys and older guys came together and had smiles on their faces. That’s a great feeling. Hopefully now we’ll make some noise in the playoffs.
“The seasons themselves seem to go by so fast. We have to appreciate these last few (games) and make more good memories to take with us.”
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.