JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — Rusty Wright said he knew coming into Johnson City exactly what kind of afternoon it would take to leave with a victory.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach said his Mocs are not built to win with mistakes, and Saturday’s game against East Tennessee State University proved it. A defense that did nearly everything asked of it was undone by an offense that managed just 183 yards, a lost fumble deep in ETSU territory, and a fourth quarter in which UTC had the ball for less than three minutes as the Buccaneers pulled away for a 14-3 Southern Conference win in front of 7,103 at William B. Greene Jr. Stadium.
“We had opportunities to do some things, both sides of the ball, for sure,” Wright said. “And we’re not built that way. So we have to do every little basic thing right consistently to win football games.”
The loss dropped UTC to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in SoCon play, while ETSU improved to 4-2 and 2-0. It also snapped UTC’s six-game winning streak in the series, and the Mocs are now 8-2 against ETSU since what is now known as the “Rail Rivalry” resumed in 2016. Wright lost to the Bucs for the first in seven series meetings as head coach of the Mocs.
After forcing the Bucs to go three-and-out on the game’s opening possession, UTC’s offense went 41 yards in 10 plays, and Jude Kelley drilled a 47-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead with 9:16 left in the first quarter.
ETSU answered immediately, going 75 yards in 10 plays and taking a 7-3 lead on Jason Albritton’s 1-yard run with 5:54 left in the period.
The Bucs, who entered the day averaging 36.2 points per game, drove to the UTC 3-yard line midway through the second quarter, but linebacker Kristian Ozane broke up Mason Mims’ fourth-and-3 pass intended for TJ Peyton to turn ETSU away with 6:27 left in the half.
“I can’t believe they didn’t take the points at the end of the half there to go up 10-3 the way we were offensively,” Wright said.
UTC’s defensive front was the biggest reason the game stayed within reach. Ryan Bell, Orlando Daniels, Montrell Henderson and Ky Tayo each sacked Mims once, and the Mocs finished with seven tackles for loss as a team. Senior linebacker Zion Rutledge led UTC with 14 tackles and a forced fumble, and Ozane added 12 tackles to go with his pass breakup and a fourth-quarter interception.
(READ MORE: UTC defense welcomes chance to face ETSU’s high-scoring attack)
Wright pointed to a sequence late in the third quarter as the turning point. A kick-catch interference penalty on an ETSU punt gave UTC the ball at the Bucs’ 30 with 4:17 left in the period. Two plays later, quarterback Battle Alberson kept the ball on a keeper and raced 20 yards to the ETSU 20, but Qua Birdsong knocked the ball loose and Jimmy Bowdry recovered at the 10.
“That was the biggest thing tonight, because we’ve got the ball down there at 7-3 and we’ve got a chance to take the lead,” Wright said. “We can’t turn the ball over. I’m not faulting that kid for trying to make a play.”
ETSU responded with a 12-play, 90-yard drive that bled into the fourth quarter. Mims found Peyton on a short pass on third-and-7 from the UTC 20, and Peyton turned it into a touchdown that made it 14-3 with 13:12 left.
UTC’s offense never recovered. Alberson finished 9-of-21 passing for 75 yards, and the Mocs, who entered the day averaging 201.8 rushing yards per game, finished with 108 on 31 carries. Kevin Lalin led the way with 55 yards on 16 carries, and Journey Wyche added 37 on 12. Ashton Schumann was again UTC’s leading receiver as he caught five passes for 54 yards.
“Playing perfect is one of the hardest things to do, I feel like, because for me personally, I want to be perfect in everything I do,” Schumann said. “You have 11 people trying to execute one job. So for everybody to win a rep and everybody to be perfect is a hard task to beat.”
Junior center Devin Lively said the gap between Saturday and the 310-yard rushing day two weeks earlier in a 41-7 home win against Wofford comes down to details.
“It’s a very slim line between a couple of those runs breaking for big runs and being 2- or 3-yard runs,” he said. “It’s hand placements, helmet placement. So it’s not like we’ve got to scrap it and restart.”
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Penalties didn’t help. After Ozane’s interception and an ETSU personal foul set the Mocs up at the ETSU 45 with 10:19 remaining, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after a short Wyche run pushed UTC back to its own 45, and the Mocs punted on fourth-and-20.
UTC never got the ball back. ETSU took over at its own 9 with 8:58 left and ran out the clock with an 18-play, 82-yard march that included two fourth-down conversions. Albritton finished the afternoon with 95 yards on 21 carries.
From the moment Alberson fumbled, ETSU held the ball for 15:50 of the final 18:41. UTC ran six plays over two possessions in that span, lost 16 yards and never picked up a first down.
UTC is home next weekend, facing Samford (1-4, 1-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Finley Stadium. That will be followed by the Mocs’ lone open date of the regular season.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.