Highlighted by four forced turnovers and 14 unanswered points, the Buccaneer defense rallied for a 28-21 win over the offense to cap off the 2017 Mountain States Health Alliance Spring Football Game on Saturday afternoon at Kermit Tipton Stadium.
HOW THE GAME WAS SCORED
The game featured Offense (Blue) vs. Defense (White) and had a specific scoring system…
Offensive Scoring – Touchdown = 6pts; Field Go
al =3pts; Extra-Point = 1pt
Defensive Scoring – Interception = 7pts; Fumble Recovery = 7pts; Safety = 2pts;
Missed Field Goal = 3pts; Missed Extra-Point =
1pt
STATS
DEFENSE
As a unit, ETSU’s defense totaled 70 tackles, seven sacks, 13 tackles for loss, three interceptions, one fumble recovery and four pass break-ups.
Defensive backs Kaman Cooper, Jeremy Lewis and accounted for the interceptions, while freshman defensive lineman Olajuwon Pinkelton had the fumble recovery.
Cooper led the defense with six tackles, while Jack Jones totaled five.
Defensive lineman Chris Stine registered four tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack and had a forced fumble, while
Jason Maduafokwa finished with two tackles, one sack and 1.5 tackles for loss.
Joining Stine and Maduafokwa with sacks were Blake Bockrath, Joe Pittman , Austin Rowan, and Ferguierson Charles, while Austin Gatewood and Nasir Player combined for a sack.
Colton Lakes, Domenique Williams, Jevon Gooden, Jackson Trawick, Ludovic Saintvil, Player and Bockrath all totaled three tackles.
OFFENSE
The Buccaneer offense totaled 316 yards – 242 yards passing and 74 yards rushing.
Sophomore running back Matt Thompson rushed for 54 yards on six carries and recorded a 28-yard touchdown run.
Dylan Wieger led the quarterbacks with 129 yards passing – including a 47-yard touchdown pass to Drake Powell… Nick Sexton threw for 58 yards and connected on a 14-yard score to Quan Harrison … Sexton and Wieger combined for 14-of-25 passing with 187 yards and two touchdowns.
Artevius Smith, Vincent Lowe and Anthony Spagnoletti led the Buccaneer receivers with three receptions eac
h, while Harrison led the group with 49 yards receiving.
In total, 13 Buccaneer receivers accounted for their 21 receptions.
SCORING
The defense struck for the first points of the afternoon when Kaman Cooper intercepted Austin Herink on the
opening drive, giving them a 7-0 lead.
The offense followed with 14 unanswered points to go ahead, 14-7 … Drake Powell started the scoring as he hauled in a 47-yard touchdown pass from Dylan Wieger, while Matt Thompson then rushed one in from 28 yards en route to giving offense its first lead of the day.
After forcing a three-and-out on the ensuing drive, the defense tied the game at 14 when Jeremy Lewis intercepted another Herink pass; however, the offense strung together a 9-play, 62-yard scoring drive right before halftime to go ahead, 21-14, when Nick Sexton found Quan Harrison
from 14 yards out.
Following halftime festivities, the defense rallied for 14 points to cap off the 28-21 win … The defense tied the game at 21 when Chris Stine forced a fumble and Olajuwon Pinkelton recovered the loose ball, while Bryce Suber’s intercepted a pass from D.J. Vanderwerf to complete the comeback.
