50 Years in the Press Box
Kudos: Chattanooga accountant Lynn Trent is in his 50th season working UTC football games in the press box … that’s 264 straight UTC games without missing a Saturday, plus 12 NCAA championship games for the Trent whose first job in 1966 was to keep game stats for UTC student sports information director Dan Clower … Trent is now the “voice in the press box” giving detailed information on each play for the media.
His first UTC game was UTC’s 19-0 win against Parsons Oct 1, 1966, aas he kept stats by hand in the Chamberlain Field press box.
Jacob Huesman Sets Record: Huesman’s 7 yard TD run in the first quarter for a 10-3 lead gave him a school record 31 career rushing touchdowns …prior to the game, he was tied with Keon Williams with 30.
Please ! No More Mockingbird Calls … there must be a better way to get the crowd into the game than the piped in bird call ...
maybe let the band play some 8-10 second strong tune ...
maybe
..”Go Chatta – Nooga…” or take a page from the Univ. of Southern California Marching Band as they play a short portion of “Conquest” throughout the game to encourage a late game drive or needed defensive stop … it’s one of the most recognizable and great sounds in college football ... might be worth letting the UTC band play it next Saturday during the Mars Hill game.
Great College Start: Redshirt freshman Montrell Pardue returned a fumble into a 55 yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to give the Mocs a 23-20 lead … Pardue was an all-state quarterback at Northeast HS in Clarksville Tenn.
Long Runs for Jax State: One key to a pair of Jax State scoring drives were long runs … Troymaine Pope raced 65 yards to the UTC 18 on the Gamecocks’ first play from scrimmage in the opening quarter … The visitors kicked the first of two field goals five plays later for a 3-3 tie …
In the fourth quarter and trailing 20-16, Josh Clemons ran 49 yards on the first play of the drive to the UTC 30 … Gamecocks scored the winning TD nine plays later.
Made and Missed Opportunities: Jax State converted 3-3 on 4th down situations, whole UTC was 0-2 … two of those fourth down conversions came during the game-winning drive … the other came in the third quarter and led to a FG for a 13-10 lead.
Good in the Red Zone: Jax State (5-5) and UTC (3-3) were perfect on the night on scoring once inside the opponents 20 yard line
JSU Coach John Grass: “I think the keys to our win was our ability to run the ball (298 yards on 44 carries) and the play of our defensive to contain the UTC run (110 yards on 36 carries)”
UTC Coach Russ Huesman: “We gave up way too many plays on defense … on their final possession we can’t let them throw it on second down (which was completed for a first down) … we missed some tackles and let them make big runs inside … we have to get off the field on defense and make the fourth down conversions (0-2) on offense … we have to get way better on defense.”
UTC Offensive Line: Coach Huesman – “they fought hard but missed some reads and didn’t pick up the rush on the four sacks … but its not all on the O-Line … the tight end missed picking up one of the rushers … but we have to get better.”
Game Leaders: UTC’s Dee Virgin led all players in solo tackles with eight and had a QB sack … Brandon Bender let Jax State with seven solo tackles
Four Sacks: Jax State had four quarterback sacks tonight and had four sacks in last year’s 26-23 OT win also here at Finley Stadium
Coach’s Decision to Punt:
On the decision for the Mocs to punt from the UTC 30 with two minutes to go in the game and down 23-20
“It was a 50-50 call” said UTC coach Russ Huesman … “the coaches discussed going for it but it was decided to punt and with three time outs to try and stop them and get the ball back … ultimately it was my decision to punt ….If we don’t let them convert the second down pass then we most likely get the ball back with about a minute left rather than eight seconds left.”
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net