The Chattanooga Mocs faced their biggest and most important home game of the season on Saturday at Finley Stadium and they passed with flying colors.
What a perfect day for a college football game as the host Mocs gave the enthusiastic crowd of 9,092 fans plenty to cheer about.
Facing arch-rival Mercer for first place in the Southern Conference, the Mocs jumped on the Bears on the opening kickoff and the guys from Macon, GA never seemed to recover.
The Mocs are now 6-1 overall and alone in first place at 4-0 while the Bears fall to 6-2 and 4-1 following the 41-21 victory that really wasn’t that close.
It was supposed to be a real test for these Mocs, but three turnovers in the first quarter alone allowed Chattanooga to take a 17-0 lead and the Bears were forced to play chase the rest of the afternoon.
UTC coach Rusty Wright is about as passionate about this football team as anyone associated with the program and he was smiling from ear to ear as he entered the media room for post-game interviews.
“That was a really good win for us, but we worked hard and prepared all week for this game,” Wright said after improving to 21-14 overall in his fourth year as the leader of this team.
“We fight our tails off to do things right and it’s amazing what happens when you don’t turn the ball over. We jumped on them early and made it tough on them as they hadn’t played from behind since losing at Auburn.
“But we just had to keep playing and I hope this is something these seniors will remember for a long, long time. We hung in there today and I feel like we’re headed in the right direction, but we put the hammer down and had a lot of fun today.
“My plan is to enjoy my Saturday night at home with my family and I’ll get up and worry about Furman tomorrow,” he added.
Lance Wise returned the opening kickoff from the goalline to the 21 and took a vicious hit from Alec Boruff, causing a fumble that teammate Zay Brown.
The Mocs weren’t able to score a touchdown on that drive, but a 32-yard field goal by Aaron Sears gave Chattanooga a 3-0 lead just 2:22 into the game and the romp was on.
The Mocs made it 10-0 some 43 seconds later when Kam Brown intercepted a Fred Payton pass and returned it 47 yards for a TD and the Bears were still trying to figure out what had happened.
After all, the game was barely four minutes old and they were getting manhandled.
But you have to understand that Mercer has an outstanding football team as they entered the game averaging 471 yards and more than 41 points per game.
A third turnover on Mercer’s next possession was an interception by Jordan Walker that gave the Mocs the ball at the Mercer 46 with 7:11 showing in the first quarter.
It only took four plays, but quarterback Preston Hutchinson hooked up with Jamoi Mayes on a nice route down the middle for a 34-yard TD and the lead was 17-0 following Sears extra-point kick.
Ailym Ford, who gained 123 yards on 23 carries and surpassed 3,000 yards for his career, scored on a sweep from the 10 with 12:25 left in the second for a 24-0 lead.
Mercer rallied with two touchdowns in the second quarter, both on passes from Payton. The first covered 39 yards to Devron Harper with 11:24 showing and the other of 14 yards to Ty James.
A 29-yard field goal by Sears with 6:54 showing in the second allowed the Mocs to take a 27-14 lead into the dressing room at intermission.
Harper scored on another short pass from Payton to get Mercer within 34-21 after Chattanooga had opened the second half with a six-play drive covering 75 yards that concluded with a 53-yard pass to freshman Sam Phillips.
Mercer never really threatened again as Chattanooga defenders were ready with a pair of interceptions in the final 15 minutes, the first going to Brown for his second pick of the game with under five minutes left while the second by Shamar Jones with 1:33 left allowed the Mocs to run out the clock as this one was over.
The Mocs finished with 447 total yards on 64 plays that included 156 yards rushing and 291 passing.
While Ford was the leading rusher, Mayes was the leading receiver as he had eight grabs for 121 yards and the one touchdown.
Javin Whatley had five catches for 35 yards while Phillips had four for 83 and the long 53-yard TD.
Hutchinson finished the day by completing 20 of 32 passes for 291 yards and three TDs.
Mercer was limited to just 347 total yards on 64 rushing and 293 passing.
Payton was the leading rusher for the Bears with 32 yards on four carries while James led the receivers with seven catches for 126 yards. Harper added 83 yards on five grabs.
Chattanooga will be on the road next week to face Furman while Mercer will play at VMI.
MERCER 0 14 7 0 -- 21
CHATTANOOGA 17 10 7 7 -- 41
UTC – Aaron Sears 32 field goal, 12:38 left in first;
UTC – Kam Brown 47 interception return (Sears kick), 11:55 left in first;
UTC – Jamoi Mayes 34 pass from Preston Hutchinson (Sears kick), 5:52 left in first;
UTC – Ailym Ford 10 run (Sears kick), 12:25 left in second;
MER – Devron Harper 39 pass from Fred Payton (Devin Folser kick), 11:24 left in second;
UTC – Sears 29 field goal, 6:54 left in second;
MER – Ty James 14 pass from Payton (Folser kick), 2:54 left in second;
UTC – Sam Phillips 53 pass from Hutchinson (Sears kick), 12:12 left in third;
MER – Harper 3 pass from Payton (Folser kick), 6:52 left in third;
UTC – Jay Gibson 3 pass from Hutchinson (Sears kick), 11:58 in fourth.
MERCER TEAM STATS CHATTANOOGA
18 FIRST DOWNS 19
25-64 RUSHES-YARDS 32-156
293 PASSING YARDS 291
21-33-4 PASSES (COMP-ATT-INT) 20-32-0
58-357 PLAYS-TOTAL YARDS 64-447
7-52 PENALTIES-YARDS 5-50
2-2 FUMBLES-LOST 0-0
3-43.0 PUNTS-AVERAGE 4-31.2
26:02 TIME OF POSSESSION 33:58
INDIVIDUAL STATS:
RUSHING: Fred Payton 4 for 32; Carter Peevy 3-20, Al Wooten 7-13 (Mercer); Ailym Ford 22 for 123 yards and one TD; Gino Appleberry 6-29; Preston Hutchinson 3-10 (Chattanooga).
RECEIVING: Ty James 11 for 126 yards and one TD; Devron Harper 5 for 83 with two TDs; Travion Solomon 3-39 (Mercer); Jamoi Mayes 8 for 121 yards and one TD; Javin Whatley 5-35; Sam Philips 4-83 with one TD; Gino Appleberry 1-25 (Chattanooga).
PASSING: Fred Payton 18 of 27 for 255 yards, three TDs and three interceptions; Carter Peevy 3-6 for 38 yards and one interception (Mercer); Preston Hutchinson 20 of 32 for 291 yards and three TDs.
TACKLES: Isaac Dowling 14, Lance Wise 7, Ken Standley 6, Cameron Sims 5 (Mercer); CaMiron Smith, Devonnsha Maxwell, Jordan Walker and Ty Boeck all with 6 (Chattanooga).
RECORDS: Mercer 6-2 overall, 4-1 in SoCon; Chattanooga 6-1, 4-0 in SoCon.
ATTENDANCE: 9,092.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)