STATS | NOTES | QUOTES | PHOTOS
 
The Chattanooga Mocs rolled to a 50-20 win over No. 14 Fordham In the first round of the NCAA Football Subdivision Championship (FCS) Playoffs. The seventh-ranked Mocs and Rams are both 9-3.
 
"We played well, especially offensively," head coach Russ Huesman said. "When you put up 48 points offensively and do the things you do, I'm proud of them."
 
The Mocs were able to gain the early momentum with a 40-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Richardre Bagley.
 
After forcing the Rams to punt on their opening offensive drive, UTC was able to find the endzone again when senior quarterback Jacob Huesman completed a pass to junior C.J. Board, for a 43-yard score.
 
Up 14-0 with 45 seconds remaining in the first quarter, the Mocs' defense came up huge. Sophomore safety Lucas Webb intercepted a tipped pass for a 71-yard touchdown return to give UTC a 21-0 lead. That play marked Webb's third career pick-six and his ninth career interception.
 
Chattanooga opened the second quarter with a seven-play, 64-yard drive that was capped off by a Henrique Ribeiro field goal from 23 yards.  That increased the lead to 24-0.
 
The defense forced another Fordham punt and the Mocs were able to move the ball into the Rams' red zone. With 10 seconds remaining in the half, Huesman found sophomore James Stovall over the middle from 13 yards out to complete a 13-play, 90-yard drive that lasted just over four minutes. UTC led 31-0 at halftime.
 
"We played well, we executed well," Coach Huesman added. "In the team meeting before the game I said for us to win this game we have to be physical and dominate both sides of the ball up front. You guys know that any time we are physical up front, and we dominate up front, we play really well on offensive.

"I think our offensive line did that today...awful proud of them."
 
To open the third quarter, Chattanooga continued their first-half dominance on the ground.  Junior Derrick Craine, whose 14-yard touchdown at the 12:56 mark ended a six-play, 65-yard drive gave UTC more breathing room with a 38-0 lead.
 
Fordham answered with a quick touchdown pass from quarterback Kevin Anderson, who found Phazahn Odom from six yards out for their first score of the game.
 
After another Ribeiro field goal, the Rams were able to fire off another quick passing touchdown, as Anderson completed a 54-yard pass to Ben Johnson. That would be the last score of the third quarter, as the Mocs still had a 41-14 lead entering the fourth.
 
With big plays for UTC coming from the offensive and defensive side of the ball, the special teams unit started off the fourth quarter with an impact.
 
Deep in their own endzone, Fordham was forced to punt after an unsuccessful offensive drive. When the ball was snapped, sophomore linebacker Dale Warren blocked the punt out of the endzone for a safety.  That gave UTC a 43-14 lead with 13:24 to go.
 
With 6:54 remaining in the game, the Rams were able to cut Chattanooga's lead to 43-20, with a 2-yard touchdown pass from Anderson to Tony Patrignelli on fourth-and-goal. That score was followed by an unsuccessful two-point conversion attempt.
 
The final big play to seal the win came from Stovall, who caught his second touchdown pass from Huesman for a 38-yard score.
 
Huesman finished the game 17-for-25 passing for 211 yards and three touchdowns, with his longest being 43 yards. The senior quarterback also totaled 129 yards on the ground off 15 carries.
 
Out of UTC's 560 total yards on offense, 360 were rushing. Craine finished with a game-high 154 rushing yards and a touchdown on 23 carries.  It was his sixth 100-yard game of the year.  UTC was also perfect in the red-zone (4-for-4) and on fourth-down conversions (2-for-2).
 
Defensively, Trevor Wright and Montrell Pardue paced the team with five tackles each. The Mocs defense recorded five sacks, forced Fordham to commit two turnovers and held the Rams to just 89 yards rushing.
 
Fordham's Kevin Anderson finished 26-40 for 329 yards, three touchdowns and was sacked five times. Jarred Brevard led the Rams in rushing with 10 carries for 70 yards.
 
The Mocs shift their focus to a Dec. 5 road matchup in the second round against No. 1 Jacksonville State.  The Gamecocks are coming off a first-round bye. Next week's matchup kicks off at 2 p.m. (E.S.T.).