Western Kentucky tailback Tyrell Hayden rushed for a career-high 149 yards, and quarterback David Wolke threw for a career-best 213 yards and two touchdowns as the Hilltoppers held on for a 28-21 victory over Chattanooga in a non-conference football game at Finley Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
With the score tied at 21-21 with 2:41 remaining in regulation, Hayden ran for 51 yards on four consecutive plays to put the Hilltoppers in scoring position at the 12-yard line. From there, reserve running back Marell Booker capped off the six-play, 75-yard drive when he busted a touchdown run off left tackle with 53 seconds remaining for what proved to be the game-winning score.
“Our defense played well until last drive,” UTC Head Coach Rodney Allison said. The ran the ball 75 yards for a touchdown. That should never happen. You have to make them throw the ball to beat you.”
Ironically, the Hilltoppers edged the Mocs (2-7) by the same score last season in Bowling Green, Ky.
Chattanooga's final drive to try to tie or go ahead began at the Mocs' own 16-yard line with 47 seconds to play. Quarterback Antonio Miller directed the offense down to the WKU 29-yard line with eight seconds left. The first pass attempt fell out of receiver Clint Woods' hands at the goal line. The final pass to the left corner was incomplete, ending the comeback attempt.
“We didn't make the plays when it counted; they did,” Allison said. “We let that one get away. We've been in a lot of games. For some reason, at the end, they are not going our way. We tried to control it from a time standpoint. We lost a close game to a pretty good team. They were big and looked like a I-A team, like they should. We played a pretty solid game. We played hard to the very end. That has never been a problem with this team.”
Western Kentucky (6-3) got on the scoreboard first when Wolke connected with wideout Jake Gaebler for a 51-yard touchdown strike with 9:43 to play in the first quarter, putting the Hilltoppers up 7-0. That lead would hold up until the 12:43 mark of the second quarter when Miller polished off an 82-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown run, tying the score at 7-7.
Miller completed 16-of-28 passes for 163 yards with two interceptions. He also ran five times for 16 yards.
Capitalizing off of a career long 57-yard run by sophomore running back Erroll Wynn, the Mocs utilized junior tailback Bryan Fitzgerald on back-to-back runs, with the second culminating in a five-yard touchdown run to give UTC a 14-7 lead with 2:44 left in the first half.
Wynn tied his career high with 131 yards on the ground on 19 carries. Fitzgerald finished with 81 yards on 17 runs, and the Mocs' rushing total of 238 yards was the team's second-highest total of the year. It was also the second straight game the offense has surpassed 400 yards of offense with 401.
The Hilltoppers weren't quite done in the half, however, as they engineered a nine-play, 63-yard drive that culminated with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Wolke to wide receiver Jessie Quinn to tie the score at 14-14 heading into halftime.
The two teams went scoreless for most of the third quarter until true freshman defensive back Buster Skrine picked off a Wolke pass and ran it back 45-yards to put the Mocs ahead 21-14 with 46 seconds left in the quarter. The score would stay that way until WKU running back Stephen Willis went 11 yards off left tackle to tie the score at 21-21 with 7:47 to play.
Two unsuccessful Chattanooga drives and one Western Kentucky series that ended abruptly with a second interception by Skrine set up the Hilltoppers' last minute heroics.
Hayden and Wolke led Western Kentucky with their respective performances and were joined by the receiving duo of Curtis Hamilton and Gaebler with five catches each and 95 and 90 yards, respectively. Gaebler and Quinn's touchdown grabs were the only receiving scores for the Hilltoppers on the afternoon.
Linebacker Andre Lewis led the WKU defense with nine total tackles and two pass breakups. Bo Smith and Chris Bullard accounted for both Western Kentucky interceptions.
Woods led all receivers with nine catches for 74 yards and has caught 20 balls in the last two games. UTC's top pass catcher, Blue Cooper, sat out the game because of an injury.
On the defensive side, safety Chris Camacho and linebacker Aaron Adams led the attack with nine tackles each. Lineman Nick Rivers added a fumble recovery, and linebacker Steven Mills and defensive lineman Neil Brown each recorded a sack.
Chattanooga will wrap up the home season next Saturday when they host Wofford at 2 p.m. at Finley Stadium for a Southern Conference game.
