GREENVILLE, S.C. - The fourth-ranked University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team built a 21-point lead, but had to survive a touchdown and onside kick to defeat Furman 21-14 Saturday at Paladin Stadium.
Alejandro Bennifield threw for 146 yards and accounted for two touchdowns - one passing, one rushing. Derrick Craine had 79 yards and a touchdown rushing for UTC.
The Mocs (3-0, 1-0) started slow offensively, but piled up 161 yards and two touchdowns in the third quarter to build on their 7-0 halftime lead. Bennifield completed all four of his third-quarter passes for 106 yards, completing deep passes to James Stovall and Xavier Borishade which set up touchdown runs by Craine and Bennifield.
Bennifield hooked up with C.J. Board on a 33-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.
Furman rallied in the fourth behind backup quarterback Reese Hannon, who finished 14-for-20 for 174 yards. Thomas Gordon and Kealand Dirks had touchdown runs, the latter closing the gap to a touchdown with 1:01 remaining.
Bennifield recovered the onside kick.
Nakevion Leslie finished with a career-high 15 tackles, adding a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss while breaking up three passes.
For a full story, read Sunday's Times Free Press.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.