Big hits and big plays led the Skyhawks to a homecoming victory on Saturday over Tennessee Tech, 46-16. This win marks the second time in three years that UTM has beaten TTU on homecoming.

Leading the team on those big hits was junior linebacker David Gilmore, with 10 tackles, one sack for a loss of nine yards and two forced fumbles. His efforts against the Golden Eagles were enough to earn Gilmore his first OVC Defensive Player of the Week Honor.

“I haven’t had that much fun in a football game in a long time,” said Gilmore. “But it was a result of everyone doing what they needed to do to win. Will Grant and Joel Kilpatrick really dominated up the middle and Zach (Kleinfelder) and Andre (Plummer) both played extremely well.”

Gilmore now leads the team with 43 total stops, and in the conference is sixth in total tackles, tied for ninth in sacks, and tied for second with teammates senior cornerback Jason Coleman and redshirt frieshman Josh Chapman in forced fumbles.

Behind Gilmore on tackles were senior free safety and team co-captain Chad McMahan with nine and junior linebacker and pre-season All-OVC pick Markeseo Jackson, who returned to the field after sitting out three games due to injury, with eight.

“It’s great to have a terrific player back in the mix,” head coach Matt Griffin said of Jackson. “He’s also a great person, which makes it even better to have him on our defense.”

The big plays started in the second quarter where UTM found itself down 9-0. Tech had a 21-yard field goal and touchdown in the first to give them the lead. Skyhawk kicker, senior Taylor Brown, made two field goals from 46 yards – a career best, and 28 yards to pull UTM to within three headed into halftime.

Brown is now 4-8 in field goals and after Saturday is a perfect 26-26 in point after touchdowns, a streak that goes back to last season. He is tied for first in PAT percentage and sit alone at first in scoring by a kicker. Brown was also named the OVC Specialist of the Week.

“I’m not sure what our problem is in the first half, but I’m concerned about it,” Griffin said. “Maybe this one was some rust from the off week, because we certainly weren’t crisp in that first half.”

Whatever Griffin and his coaching staff said during the break worked and the Skyhawks came out and scored 46 unanswered points.

The first Skyhawk touchdown, and lead, of the day came a little over five minutes into the second half when sophomore receiver Jamal Akbar caught a 27-yard pass from senior quarterback and co-captain Brady Wahlberg.

“Once we finally got started, the touchdowns just kept rolling in,” Akbar said. “After the game, you look at the scoreboard and just wonder how that happened.”

Akbar took a hard hit in the endzone, but maintained possession of the ball for the touchdown.

“[Akbar’s] the kind of guy that just makes plays,” Wahlberg said. “That’s why we’re winning this season - guys are making crucial plays.”

One of the biggest plays came from relatively unknown true freshman cornerback Dante Harrold. Harrold intercepted a pass from Tech and returned it 85 yards for what would be the game winning the TD to put the Skyhawks up 20-9.

“Plays like that, you don’t even think about anything,” Harrold said. “It’s all reaction and running. I didn’t even see anyone yelling, all I saw was the end zone.”

Saturday’s game was Harrold’s first career start at UTM and the interception along with four solo tackles, a pass breakup and a fumble recovery earned him the OVC’s Newcomer of the Week honor.

The defense scored once again with 40 seconds left in the third quarter on a safety by Gilmore and junior rover Jack Greenwood. The Skyhawks increased their lead to 22-9 going into the fourth quarter. The barrage of points continued as Brown added yet another field goal to the score, this one from 38 yards to put the score at 25-9.

Tech put together a series of four plays that ended with yet another interception by the Skyhawks coming from Greenwood at the Tech 49-yardline.

The Skyhawks capitalized on this turnover and scored on a 34-yard pass from Wahlberg to Stephens. The 2-play drive took just 52 seconds off the clock and padded the Skyhawks lead 32-39.

Keeping with the big play theme of the game, Gilmore sacked Tech quarterback John McCray for a loss of nine yards on the very first play of the next drive, forcing a fumble that was recovered by true freshman defensive tackle Michael Jasper.

It took only seven seconds for UTM to put seven more points on the board and nail the Eagles coffin closed, 39-9.

Despite the 30-point lead, UTM’s defense wasn’t ready to quit just yet. Tech put together a 10-play drive that covered 52 yards and seemed like it might help them put points on the board. But sophomore defensive back Andrew Johnson intercepted another pass at the UTM 10 and yardline and moved it to the 12. Redshirt freshman Josh Chapman then busted out an 88-yard run to score his first touchdown of the season and the last UTM points of the game.

Now down by 37 points, the Golden Eagles flapped one more time and put one more touchdown on the board with 14 seconds left in the game. The Skyhawks ran those last few seconds off the clock to pick up the victory, 46-16.

Wahlberg finished the day 13-of-19 with no interceptions for 130 yards and had 88 yards on the ground. Wahlberg is first in the conference in passing efficiency, third in total offensive yards, and eighth in total rushing yards.

In the receiving game, Stephens led the Skyhawks with 41 yards on three catches for two touchdowns. Stephens is currently first in the OVC in receptions per game and fifth in receiving yards per game. Behind him was sophomore tailback Don Chapman with 28 yards on five catches. He also had 84 rushing yards on 22 carries. D. Chapman is currently leading the OVC in rushing and scoring, is second in all-purpose yardage, and eighth in total offense.

Third on the team in receiving was Akbar with 27 yards on one catch for his one touchdown of the game.

The top runner on the day was J. Chapman with 120 yards on eight carries with one touchdown.

The Skyhawk offensive line, featuring senior and co-captain Jody Womble, senior Zac Scott, juniors Alex Atkins, Will Gallian Billy Krause and Kyle Wisniewski, sophomore Adam Hansen, redshirt freshman Justin Weaver and true freshman Kevin Bannon, had a good day, allowing no sacks on the afternoon.

Redshirt freshman punter Adam Ivey saw action on Saturday, kicking six times for 219 yards. Ivey is currently in third place in the OVC with an average of 39.2 yards per punt.

The Skyhawks are currently tied for second place in the OVC with Eastern Illinois. Both teams are 2-0 in the conference. Only Eastern Kentucky boasts a better OVC record at 3-0. UTM does, however, have the best overall record at 4-1.

The Skyhawks will take their three-game winning streak to Jacksonville State on Saturday to take on the 2-time defending OVC champion Gamecocks.

Jacksonville is coming off a close 28-23 win over Murray State on Saturday. JSU is 2-4 on the season, with both wins coming from conference opponents. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. in Jacksonville, Ala.