NOTES | QUOTES | PHOTOS

GREENVILLE, S.C. (October 12, 2024) --- Featuring a dominant performance in all three phases, the No. 23-ranked Chattanooga Mocs football team notched its third-straight victory after posting a 41-10 rout over Southern Conference foe Furman on a beautiful Saturday afternoon inside Paladin Stadium in Greenville, S.C.
 
Following the win, Chattanooga evens its overall record to 3-3 and improves to 2-1 inside SoCon action. Furman drops to 2-4 overall this season while moving to 1-1 against league opponents.
 
Chattanooga scored 24 of its 41 points off Furman miscues after turning the Paladins over five times including four via interception and one loose ball recovery. After a Furman field goal cut into UTC's lead 7-3 with 4:07 in the first, the Mocs would go on to score 34 unanswered points to breakaway with its commanding decision.
 
"They're a young football team, they lost a lot, but I knew we had a good week of practice coming in. I knew we'd come over here and play well, but this was a good day," said head coach Rusty Wright after the game.
 
"We did the things we were supposed to do against a football team where you have to do those things well. Good things will happen if you do all the things you're supposed to do."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Chattanooga established a strong defensive presence in the early stages with Josh Battle and D'Arco Perkins-McAllister each coming away with interceptions on the Paladins opening two drives. UTC turned the latter takeaway into points after Chase Artopoeus capped off a nine-play, 55-yard touchdown drive with a one-yard scamper to put the guests up 7-0 (7:55) in the first.
 
Furman found its first points of the afternoon off the foot of Ian Williams, who capped off a nine-play drive with a 37-yard field goal to make it 7-3 with 4:07 left in the opening quarter. After forcing a Paladins punt, the Mocs offense began the second quarter with a lengthy 10-play drive that resulted in a Jude Kelley 42-yard field goal to extends its lead 10-3 (11:03).
 
The secondary struck again as Jeremiah Batiste recorded the defensive unit's third interception of the half to set the UTC offense in Furman territory at the 45-yard line. Kelley eventually capped off the drive with a 24-yard field goal to allow the edge to grow, 13-3, with 4:26 left before the break.
 
Defensive dominance continued on the ensuing Furman drive as Quay Wiggles and Joseph Bakhole teamed up to respectively force and recover a fumble at the Paladins 35-yard line. The Mocs needed just three plays to find the endzone as Justus Durant hit a wide-open hole from 14 yards out to allow for a 20-3 halftime lead.
 
On the second half's first play, Artopoeus found Javin Whatley wide open over the middle for a 47-yard pass and catch before Reggie Davis ended the drive with a two-yard plunge to make it 27-3 (11:37). The rout continued after Artopoeus and Whatley connected again, this time for 71-yards and a score, before a wild 47-yard, pick-six from Marquise Freeman gave UTC a sizable 41-3 margin through three quarters.
 
Furman ended Chattanooga's run of 34 unanswered points with a long 14-play, 95-yard touchdown drive that made it 41-10 with 8:59 remaining in the contest. Both teams would go scoreless down the stretch as UTC put the final touches on its dominant performance.
 

TIME	TEAM	SCORING PLAY	DRIVE	SCORE
1Q 7:55	UTC	C. Artopoeus 1-yd TD rush (XP)	9-55; 3:40	7-0; UTC
1Q 4:07	FUR	I. Williams 37-yd field goal	9-32; 3:40	7-3; UTC
2Q 11:03	UTC	J. Kelley 42-yd field goal	10-42; 3:57	10-3; UTC
2Q 4:26	UTC	J. Kelley 24-yd field goal	12-39; 5:37	13-3; UTC
2Q 1:55	UTC	J. Durant 14-yd TD rush (XP)	3-35; 1:11	20-3; UTC
3Q 11:37	UTC	R. Davis 2-yd TD rush (XP)	8-75; 3:23	27-3; UTC
3Q 9:06	UTC	J. Whatley 71-yd TD rec. from C. Artopoeus (XP)	3-72; 1:26	34-3; UTC
3Q 6:32	UTC	M. Freeman 47-yd INT TD return (XP)	---	41-3; UTC
4Q 8:59	FUR	M. Hicks 2-yd TD rush (XP)	14-95; 6:27	41-10; UTC

RECORDS/SERIES – No. 23 Chattanooga 3-3 (2-1) ∙ Furman 2-4 (1-1) ∙ Furman leads the all-time series 33-22-0.
 
UP NEXT – Wofford – Saturday, Oct. 19 – 1:30 p.m. ET – Finley Stadium – ESPN+ – Fall Family Day, Hall of Fame & White Out – BUY TICKETS

3 NOTES TO KNOW | MORE
1 – Three-game winning streak… 8th time in Rusty Wright era with a winning streak of three or more games… tied for second-most in school history with Russ Huesman (8 seasons)… Scrappy Moore has the record with 16 over his 35-year Chattanooga career.
2 – 31-point win ties the largest margin of victory in the series by the Mocs... previous high was +31 on Sept. 22, 1979 in Greenville (45-14)... 41 is the highest point total in the series for the Mocs since the 45-19 win in 2014 in Greenville.
3 – Javin Whatley had his best game of the season with 10 receptions for 168 yards and a touchdown… now has 115 career catches for 1,877 yards and 16 TDs... now tied for 6th all-time in the Mocs history books in career TD receptions with Xavier Borishade (2013-16).
 
QUOTABLE | MORE
HC Rusty Wright on game plan coming in.
"We are who we are. We line up and play. I won't change what we do just because someone else has something going on. We lined up, played our coverages, played our fronts, and just played. I thought they might put some more folks in the box based on what we show, but we got off to a good start which was huge."
 
DL Chris Victor on what helped today's performance.
"Shout out to our scout team. They play so hard during practice and prepared us extremely well for this game. It's good getting back to how we should be playing football. We're back to how we should be playing and only worrying about us."

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