STATS | NOTES | QUOTES | PHOTOS
 
CHATTANOOGA---The Chattanooga Mocs needed all 60 minutes to claim a third straight win. They took a 16-13 victory over Southern Conference rival ETSU on a Victor Ulmo field goal with 14 seconds to play.
 
Redemption, or maybe redenção works better from Ulmo's native Portuguese. Either way he came through in the end after three misses during the contest.
 
"It was just the mindset I had to have," Ulmo shared. "(Special teams) didn't have a good day as a unit, but I had to trust myself. Never had a doubt that I'd make the kick. I have to give a huge shout out to the offense and defense.
 
"The defense kept making stops, and Nick (Tiano) talked to me many times on the sidelines that we'd get another shot. That means the world to me to know they have my back. Feels a lot better when I can help them win games."
 
Ulmo had a chance from 36 yards out with 2:31 to go but missed wide right. The defense held the Bucs offense on a three-and-out setting up the final heroics with more than two minutes to go as Coach Rusty Wright used his three timeouts losing just 15 seconds off the clock.
 
Starting on their own 39, Tiano completed a seven-yard pass to Tyrin Summers. Ailym Ford took over with runs of 23 and 11 yards to get to the 200-yard mark on the night. His backup Jonathan Stovall caught a 3-yard pass and ran another three yards to the ETSU 14. After an incompletion, Ulmo lined up at the 20 for a 30-yard kick which was straight and true for the win.
 
"I told Victor all game that we need him and believe in him," Tiano said. "It was going to come down to him. A game like this is a fight back-and-forth. We were able to get down there in field goal range and Victor knocked it through.
 
"These are the wins that feel the best."
 
Ford got the Mocs on the board first with a six-yard trot on Chattanooga's first series. He added another barreling through the defense on a 14-yard scamper to start the second half. He amassed 200 yards on 31 carries.
 
Between those scores, ETSU scored all 13 of their points in the second period. Will Huzzie made a fantastic one-handed diving grab in the front right of the end zone on a 32-yard toss from Trey Mitchell to get the Bucs on the board. Tyler Keltner hit field goals of 29 and 43 yards, the latter coming right before the half.
 
The play of the game belonged to Jerrell Lawson. On fourth-and-2 at the Chattanooga 12, ETSU Coach Randy Sanders opted to go for it. Mitchell shuffled a jet-sweep pass to Jacob Saylors who was quickly tracked and dropped for a loss of three by Lawson keeping the game tied 13-all.
 
All-conference linebacker Marshall Cooper had his own view of the play, "I heard the safety yell 'jet sweep, jet sweep'. I saw the pull and I knew guaranteed I was going to make that play. Jerrell came in out of nowhere and took it (the tackle for loss) away from me. Kind of made me mad," he added with tongue firmly in cheek.
 
"I was happy to celebrate that with him. He's been a great brother to me here and the best safety I've ever played with."
 
The Mocs launched three fourth quarter drives of 60, 66 and 47 yards. The first two ended in Ulmo misses, but the last brought redenção.
 
"I told Vic that he's going to get another chance, you're going to get another chance," Wright said. "Thankfully, he hit that last one. He's our guy.
 
"We're going to ride with him."
 
 
RECORDS – Chattanooga (4-3/3-0) | ETSU (2-5/0-4)
 
SERIES – Chattanooga leads 23-19-1.
 
QUOTABLE
"Those kids went out there and made plays, made stops and found a way to win a football game. They did that, I promise you that. That's what was so cool about being on the sidelines tonight." – Coach Rusty Wright
 
"We're a unit that flies around to the ball. We're aggressive and did our job for the most part. Even the long run they had with Quay Holmes was a simple missed tackle. As a defense, we're running around, taking our gaps and practice more seriously. As we really buy in, we'll keep having nights like this and know we can keep doing it again." – Marshall Cooper on tonight's defensive effort.
 
"I love Nick, but run blocking for Lim is a lot more fun. As an offensive lineman you feel like you have more of an effect on the run game than passing. When you see that rushing stat of 200 yards, that's very satisfying for the offensive line." – OT Malcolm White on which he enjoys more; pass blocking for best friend Nick Tiano or run-blocking for freshman sensation Ailym Ford.
 
Check out all we heard at the quotes link at the top of the story.
 
3 NOTES TO KNOW

• It was the first 200-yard night for Ford, but it was his fourth with 100 or more yards. That ties Jacob Huesman (2012) on the school's freshman record list. Mike Smith (1977) holds the mark with six.
• It was the Mocs first win when trailing at halftime since the 10-3 win over ETSU on Nov. 18, 2017 at Finley Stadium. We're just 2-15 in such situations over the last three seasons.
• Third straight game with 30+ carries for Ford. The only other Moc to do that was Tyrone Coleman in 1998. He has 511 yards on 63 carries in the last three games.

 
Check out all the extra info at the notes link at the top of the story.
 
3 STATS TO KNOW

• 63 of ETSU's 124 rushing yards came on a second quarter Quay Holmes run down the left sideline. He broke a tackle in the backfield at the start of it before getting caught from behind by Ty Boeck. The rest of the game saw the visitors average 2.3 per rush getting 61 on 27 carries.
• The Mocs topped the 200-yard rushing mark for the third straight game. Our SoCon rushing average is 289.67 yards per game. The squad has 150 or more yards in five of the seven contests.
• The defense allowed ETSU just 272 yards of total offense. That's the second-fewest yards this season after just 257 nearly two weeks ago at Mercer. The last two games, the unit allowed just 4.7 yards per play, while the offense ran 44 more plays (156 to 112).

 
Check out all the numbers at the stats link at the top of the story.
 
NEXT GAME – Chattanooga at Wofford | Sat., Oct. 26 | 1:30 p.m. | 2019 Schedule
 
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