CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior Clayton Crile’s kick had just glanced off the left goalpost, his second field-goal attempt gone wrong in Saturday’s game at Austin Peay, when Tennessee State Trooper Pumpy Tudors cornered him.
Tudors, a member of the UTC Athletics Hall of Fame and a two-time All-America punter from 1989-91, had a message for the Mocs’ current kicker/punter after Crile had a 44-yard try blocked late in the third quarter before the miss from 38 yards early in the fourth.
“I just told him that one’s gone,” said Tudors, a prep star at Marion County before joining the Mocs. “He wasn’t going to get it back, so I told him to be ready because there’s going to be another one coming.
“He said, ‘Yes, sir.’”
And that’s exactly what happened. Crile’s 35-yard kick as time expired propelled the Mocs to a 24-21 victory over the Governors as UTC made a triumphant return to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. The Mocs (8-4) are in the postseason for the fifth time overall and first time since reaching the second round in 2016, and now they have a second opportunity against seventh-seeded Furman at 1 p.m. next Saturday in Greenville, South Carolina.