QUOTES | NOTES | PHOTOS
 
CHATTANOOGA --- The ninth-ranked Chattanooga Mocs football team amassed 609 yards of total offense and out-gained VMI by 301 yards on the ground in route to a 41-13 drubbing over the Southern Conference on Saturday afternoon inside Finley Stadium.
 
Following the win, Chattanooga improves to 5-1 overall and 3-0 inside SoCon action. VMI falls to 1-5 overall and 0-3 inside conference play after the loss.
 
Chattanooga held VMI to -2 yards of rushing and earned a 301-yard advantage after racking up 299 yards, featured by two 100-yard rushers in Ailym Ford (172) and Gino Appleberry (109). The Mocs held the Keydets to just 33 yards of total offense in the first half.
 
"We talked about, offensively, taking care of the football, not turning the football over and giving us opportunities to go score," said head coach Rusty Wright. "We talked about, defensively, having the urgency to go get lined up. 
 
"I think we got some things accomplished over the open week to get to this point and do what we did."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Chattanooga scored on its second offensive drive when Appleberry rumbled his way in the endzone from 14 yards out to put the Mocs up 7-0 with 4:29 left in the first. VMI immediately responded on the ensuing kickoff with a 98-yard return to tie things up 7-7 just 15 seconds later.
 
It was all Chattanooga for the rest of the first half. The Moc scored 24 unanswered points on 397 yards of total offense in the half while limiting the opposition to just 31 yards. Preston Hutchinson found Javin Whatley over the middle for a 72-yard catch and run to make it 13-7 (3:06 1Q) before Ford broke off a 62-yard touchdown run to up the lead to 21-7 (0:12 1Q) ahead of the first quarter whistle.
 
Andrew Southard connected on a 29-yard field goal with 4:38 left in the half to make it 24-7. Appleberry notched his first career multi-TD game as a Moc with a one-yard power up the middle with 1:38 on the board to cap off the 31-7 halftime lead.
 
VMI scored on the opening possession of the second half after going 74 yards in nine plays in 3:39 to cut into the UTC lead 31-13 (PAT unsuccessful) at the 11:15 mark in the third quarter. A four-yard touchdown throw and catch from Hutchinson to Camden Overton marked Overton's first career touchdown reception and extended the Mocs lead to 38-13 (13:34 4Q).
 
Aaron Sears added the game's final tally with a 27-yard field goal (4:07 4Q) that capped off a nine-play, 79-yard scoring drive to amass the eventual 41-13 final.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
Offense
QB – Preston Hutchinson – 16-of-20, 295 yards, 2 TD
RB – Ailym Ford – 22 carries, 172 yards, TD
RB – Gino Appleberry – 12 carries, 109 yards, 2 TD
WR – Jamoi Mayes – 4 catches, 64 yards
WR – Javin Whatley – 1 catch, 72 yards, TD

Defense
EDGE – Jay Person – 4 tackles, 1.0 sacks, 2.5 TFLs
LB – Ty Boeck – 6 tackles, 1.0 TFL
LB – Austin Collier – 2 tackles, 2.0 sacks, 2.0 TFLs

TEAM  
TOTAL OFFENSE – UTC: 609, VMI: 156
PASSING – UTC: 310, VMI: 158
RUSHING – UTC: 299, VMI: -2

RECORDS – Chattanooga (5-1, 3-0 SoCon) – VMI (1-5, 0-3 SoCon)
 
SERIES – Chattanooga now leads the all-time series 18-9-1.
 
3 NOTES TO KNOW
- Held the Keydets to -2 yards rushing on 27 carries… gained 52 yards but lost 54 on the Mocs 12 tackles for loss including sacks… tied for sixth-fewest rushing yards allowed (ETSU on Oct. 1, 1988)…fewest allowed since -16 at VMI on Oct. 27, 2018.
 
- Running back Ailym Ford rushed for 172 yards on 22 carries with a touchdown... 1,332 yards on 234 carries with 14 touchdowns in 12 games at home… topped 2,000 yards in SoCon games in the second quarter (2,043).

- 609 yards of total offense is ninth-highest total in school history… most since 695 against Appalachian State on Oct. 30, 2004… averaged 9.1 yards per play which is the best since 9.5 against Presbyterian on Sept. 10, 2016 and just the sixth game all-time topping 9.0 ypp.

QUOTABLE
"We preach taking care of the ball and playing defense one play at a time. So those drives where they look like they were against something, as long as we kept playing, we were able to get stops. So it felt good. We hadn't beat them in a couple of years, so that also felt good as well." – Devonnsha Maxwell on the win
 
"Our goal has been to take it one week at a time, and that's exactly what we did today. Break that down, to take it one play at a time. And I thought we did just that today. So I was really pleased with the guys. I know we struggled with VMI in the past, the past couple of years, so it was awesome to get this one under our belt." – Preston Hutchinson on executing
 
NEXT GAME – Chattanooga (5-1, 3-0 SoCon) vs. Mercer (5-1, 3-0 SoCon) – October 22 – 1:30PM ET – ESPN+
 
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