CHATTANOOGA (September 27, 2025) --- The Chattanooga Mocs football team struggled to stop the run and fell behind greatly in the time of possession battle during an eventual 28-10 home defeat to The Citadel during its Southern Conference opener on Saturday evening inside Finley Stadium.

Quick Records & Series
Chattanooga: 1-4, 0-1 SoCon | The Citadel 2-3, 2-1 SoCon
Series: Chattanooga now leads the all-time series 36-21-2.
 
Breakdown

• After receiving the opening kick, Chattanooga marched 57 yards in eight plays and saw Justus Durant finish the drive with a five-yard plunge to grab an early 7-0 lead (10:32). The Citadel responded with two-straight TD drives that allowed for a 14-7 lead with 13:04 in the second.
• Jude Kelley converted a 34-yard field goal after a would-be Chattanooga touchdown was called back on a flag at the line of scrimmage, cutting the UTC deficit to 14-10 (7:53, 2Q).
• The Citadel took a 21-10 lead into the halftime break after a six-play, 67-yard TD drive capped off the offense's efforts in the opening half. The Bulldogs would add one more touchdown after an eight-play, 70-yard scoring drive with 3:14 left in the third, ultimately setting the 28-10 difference.

 
Scoring Plays
1Q 10:32 (UTC) · J. Durant 5-yd TD rush (XP) · 7-0 (UTC)
1Q 4:59 (CIT) · W. Hobgood 14-yd TD rec. from C. Thompkins (XP) · 7-7
 
2Q 13:04 (CIT) · Q. Hayes 9-yd TD rush (XP) · 14-7 (CIT)
2Q 7:53 (UTC) · J. Kelley 34-yd FG · 14-10 (CIT)
2Q 5:03 (CIT) · G. Johnson, Sr. 26-yd TD rush (XP) · 21-10 (CIT)
 
3Q 3:14 (CIT) · Q. Hayes 20-yd TD rush (XP) · 28-10 (CIT)

Resources: Stats | Notes | Quotes | Series
 
Chattanooga Top Performers
QB Camden Orth: 15-of-24, 201 yards, 8 rushes, 44 yards
RB Justus Durant: 15 rushes, 74 yards, TD
WR Jamarii Robinson: 5 receptions, 89 yards
DB Kam Baah-Slay: 19 tackles (16 solo, 3 assists)
LB Zion Rutledge: 17 tackles (10 solo, 7 assists), 0.5 TFL

Notes to Know

• Two football alum entered the UTC Athletics Hall of Fame in induction festivities Friday night…WR/P Joel Bradford '11 and DE Davis Tull '14 took their rightful places among the program's elites.
• Scored on first possession for third straight week…marched 57 yards on eight plays in 4:23 scoring on a 5-yard Justus Durant rush…Durant put the offense in good field position with a 36-yard kick return.
• Career-high 19 tackles for S Kam Baah-Slay…16 of the stops were solo…most by a Moc since Christian Snyder's 20 against Mercer on March 27, 2021.

Quotable
Rusty Wright, head coach: "Yeah, um, not, not good enough tonight. Especially when you make that many mistakes. We weren't good in a bunch of different areas and that's not on our guys. That's on me. I thought we had a good week to practice. Every mistake we made, we're not good enough to get away with those things yet." – opening thoughts after tonight's defeat.
 
Zion Rutledge, LB-Jr.: "We just have some things to figure out. The good thing is this team is going to fight, we have a lot of tough guys. I'm not worried about that. It's a little heartbreaking for now, but we'll get back and watch some film to get better." – on moving forward after tonight.

Up Next
Chattanooga continues Southern Conference action next week with a trip north to Lexington, Va., for a Saturday afternoon matchup at VMI. Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m. (ET) on ESPN+. All game coverage links are located on the schedule page at GoMocs.com.

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