The Skyhawk football team dropped their seventh game of the season to the Bulldogs of Samford University, 20-34. UTM is now 1-6 on the year with a 0-4 record in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The Skyhawks played better than in week’s past, dominating the time of possession against the Bulldogs, 34:22 -25:38. But, the Samford offense had the better day. The Bulldogs jumped out to the early lead, scoring first with 5:56 left in the first quarter.

Samford struck second as well, putting a second TD on the board with only 2:45 off the clock in the second quarter. The Skyhawks started their scoring for the day on a six play, 63-yard run resulting in a 2-yard rush by freshman running back Donald Chapman, bringing the score to 7-14.

Approximately three minutes later, junior defensive back Chad McMahan returned an interception 38 yards to the Samford 2 yard-line.

Sophomore tailback Justin Glover ran the ball in two plays later, tying the score at 14-all.

With only four seconds left in the first half, UTM pulled out to its first lead on a 27-yard field goal by junior kicker Taylor Brown. The Skyhawks increased their lead on a 73-yard, 11 play drive that ended with another successful field goal by Brown, this one for 35 yards, putting the score at 20-14 with 7:42 left in the third.

Unfortunately, those would be the last points that UTM would be able to tack on.

Samford regained the lead with just over a minute left in the quarter on a 49-yard rush, bringing the score to 20-21. The Bulldogs pulled farther ahead with 12:20 left in the game on an eight play, 55-yard drive that resulted in a 12 yard touchdown pass.

The gap was widened even more with 7:20 left on the clock when the Bulldogs scored the final points of the game on a 17-yard run, increasing the score to 20-34.

Offensively the passing game was closer than the ground battle, with the Skyhawks passing for 190 and rushing for 192 while Samford passed for 208 and rushed for 236.

Junior QB Brady Wahlberg finished the game with 50 yards rushing, the longest coming for 11 yards.

Samford’s quarterback, Ray Nelson picked up 113 yards rushing on the afternoon with an average carry of 8.1 yards. Chapman led the Skyhawks once again on the ground, rushing for 82 total yards and only losing one yard on the day.

Glover also picked up 48 yards rushing against the Bulldogs. Samford’s Philip Hyde was second for the Bulldogs rushing behind Nelson with 100 net yards.

Wahlberg threw one interception and was sacked once by the Bulldogs.

On the defensive end, the Skyhawks were led by senior linebacker John Castillo with 12 tackles, senior cornerback Russell Gambrell with nine, and junior cornerback Jason Coleman and sophomore linebacker Markeseo Jackson were tied with eight.

The Skyhawks will next take on the panthers of Eastern Illinois on Saturday, Oct. 23 at home.

Last season, the Panthers got the best of the Skyhawks, 29-12 in Charleston. The Panthers took on UTM for their homecoming contest which was themed “The Good, the Bad, the 80’s.”

The good that came during the game was former kicker J.T. Batson hitting his first two field goal attempts of the season. Kickoff for Saturday’s game is scheduled for noon.