23rd Ranked Mocs Win 31-7 At Citadel

Saturday, November 9, 2024

The 23rd-ranked Chattanooga Mocs football team used a dominating rushing attack and forced three turnovers to help secure a comfortable 31-7 victory at The Citadel during Southern Conference action on Saturday afternoon inside Johnson Hagood Stadium in Charleston, S.C.

Following the win, Chattanooga improves to 6-4 overall and 5-2 inside SoCon action while keeping its FCS Playoffs hopes alive. The Citadel drops to 4-6 overall and 2-5 in the league after the defeat.

Chattanooga racked up 231 yards on the ground during the victory while featuring a pair of 100-yard rushers in Reggie Davis (115) and Justus Durant (103).

The defense continued its abundance of takeaways this season with three in total, two via fumble recoveries and one on an interception, marking the team's 16th INT of the year.

"We played like we were capable of playing. We made them do some things. They gave us one we had never seen on the very first play, and that was the longest play of the day," said head coach Rusty Wright after the game.

"But I thought those guys settled in and did a phenomenal job and played like they were capable of playing. That's what you have to do. Defense travels. We've got to play that way on the road and do those things. Super proud of those kids and those coaches."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Despite combining for 191 yards of total offense, both Chattanooga and The Citadel went scoreless in the first quarter. The Bulldogs provided the only scoring chance, but just missed wide right on a 48-yard field goal attempt with just over a minute left in the period.

It was all Chattanooga early in the second quarter with lengthy catch and scores from Chris Domercant (35) and Javin Whatley (16) off feeds from starting quarterback Luke Schomburg. Domercant eclipsed 2,000 career receiving yards on his score before Whatley's paint-finder gave UTC a 14-0 lead with 7:37 left in the frame.

The defense came away with its 16th interception of the season just moments later as Jeremiah Batist picked off a pass in front of the UTC sideline with 3:58 left before half. The offense took the clock to zeros after the takeaway, but failed to take advantage as a missed 42-yard field goal attempt as time expired kept the tally at 14-0.

The Citadel struck first in the second half when Cooper Wallace busted through the UTC defense for a 50-yard touchdown run to pull the Bulldogs within a possession, 14-7 (11:18). After Alex Mitchell forced and recovered a fumble, Jude Kelley converted a 30-yard field goal with 2:31 left in the third to extend the lead to 17-7.

Just three plays later, Chattanooga continued its aggressive play on defense as Quay Wiggles came away with another fumble recovery, setting the offense up at The Citadel's 32. Justus Durant went the necessary 32 yards on the first snap of the possession which started to allow the Mocs to pull away, 24-7, with just 1:25 left in the third.

Durant found the end zone again in the early stages of the fourth, this one from eight yards out, to put the guests up by a sizable 31-7 edge with 11:06 remaining in the contest. The 24-point difference would stand as the two teams went scoreless over the final 11-plus minutes.

TIME	TEAM	SCORING PLAY	DRIVE	SCORE
2Q 13:49	UTC	C. Domercant 35-yd TD rec. from L. Schomburg (XP)	6-70; 2:14	7-0; UTC
2Q 7:37	UTC	J. Whatley 16-yd TD rec. from L. Schomburg (XP)	8-70; 4:01	14-0; UTC
3Q 11:18	CIT	C. Wallace 50-yd touchdown rush (XP)	3-77; 1:30	14-7; UTC
3Q 2:31	UTC	J. Kelley 30-yd field goal	5-42; 2:24	17-7 UTC
3Q 1:25	UTC	J. Durant 32-yd touchdown rush (XP)	1-32; 0:08	24-7 UTC
4Q 11:06	UTC	J. Durant 8-yd touchdown rush (XP)	5-41; 2:21	31-7 UTC