JSU 37, UTM 17

Two weeks ago, the Skyhawks went to Jacksonville State with hopes of knocking off the two-time defending OVC champion Gamecocks.

Unfortunately, JSU showed early in the game that they wouldn’t easily be removed from the top.

On the second drive of the game, the Skyhawks fumbled a punt allowing Jacksonville to recover the ball and run it back for a touchdown with just a minute and a half off the clock.

After that mistake, sloppy play by the Skyhawks including five interceptions resulted in two more unanswered Gamecock touchdowns and a field goal in the first half.

The score headed into halftime saw the Skyhawks down 24-0.

UTM came out of the break and looked like they might turn things around.

Five minutes into the half, the Skyhawks put their first points on the board after a 10 play, 66-yard drive capped off with a two yard TD run by tailback Don Chapman.

Keeping the momentum up, linebacker David Gilmore forced a fumble that was recovered on the JSU 39 yard line by rover Jack Greenwood.

A Gamecock personal foul penalty moved the Skyhawks to the 24 yard line. Quarterback and team co-captain Brady Wahlberg picked up his first touchdown of the day on a 24-yard rush and the Skyhawks found themselves down 10 points with a quarter and a half to play.

The Gamecocks scored again on the next drive and put themselves back up 31-14.

Skyhawk kicker Taylor Brown put the final points on the board for UTM with a 40-yard field goal with just over 12 minutes left in the game.

Jacksonville was able to capitalize on an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the Skyhawks and ran in another touchdown to put the final score at 37-17.

This was the first conference loss for the Skyhawks.

Before facing Jacksonville State, Wahlberg had given up just one interception all season.

“For the first time this year we turned the ball over and it cost us,” head coach Matt Griffin said. “That was the difference in the game. “For 30 minutes we were not focused and we were not doing our job,” Griffin said. “I was a little disappointed. For the first time this season we beat ourselves.”

Penalties also hurt the Skyhawks as they were charged with nine for 88 yards.

Offensively, Wahlberg was 17-for-31 for 163 yards passing and also picked up 100 yards on the ground. Chapman also picked up 96 rushing yards on the afternoon.

Wide receiver Taurean Stephens caught nine passes for 91 yards and tight end Cole Duncan had three catches for 31 yards.

On the defense, three players were tied with eight tackles: Gilmore, defensive tackle Joseph Threats, and free safety and team co-captain Chad McMahan. Behind them with seven was linebacker Markeseo Jackson.

Samford 30, UTM 22

UTM then looked to the other OVC school from Ala. to up their win total.

The Skyhawks put the first points on the board late in the first quarter on a 22 yard field goal by Brown after an impressive 14-play, 79-yard drive.

The Bulldogs evened the score early in the second on a 38-yard field goal. On the next drive, the Skyhawks pulled again on another field goal by Brown, this one from 26 yards.

But, Samford came right back and scored the first touchdown of the game to take a 10-6 lead with a little under three minutes left in the half.

As has been the trend all season, the Skyhawks went into the break behind in the score.

Unfortunately for UTM, they weren’t able to get the ball to the end zone until there were only six minutes remaining in the game.

Samford scored early in the second half on a 28-yard interception return to put the score at 17-6. UTM answered with, yet again, a 25-yard field goal by Brown to cut the lead to 17-9.

Twice more in the third quarter the Bulldogs were able to score, the second coming of another interception return, this one for 31 yards, to put Samford up 30-9 after Skyhawk defensive end and co-captain Andre Plummer blocked the extra point.

The Skyhawks did attempt a comeback in the fourth quarter, scoring two touchdowns, but fell short in the end.

The first TD came off an 11-yard pass from Wahlberg to wide receiver Jamal Akbar to make the score 16-30. Hoping to keep things going in the Skyhawks favor, UTM scored again two drives later, this time on a 17-yard pass to Akbar with only two and half minutes left in the game.

The extra point attempt was blocked, snapping Brown’s perfect PAT record for the season.

The Skyhawks then went for the onside kick and held Samford to a short 7-yard drive.

With 16 seconds left on the clock UTM, regained possession and Wahlberg’s ‘Hail Mary’ attempt was intercepted and the Skyhawks dropped their second straight conference game.

Despite the loss, the Skyhawk defense managed to hold the Bulldogs to just 101 yards rushing and 118 yards passing.

Leading the defense for the fifth game in a row was Gilmore, with 12 tackles, all solo. Behind him was McMahan with 11, and cornerback Jason Coleman with seven and a sack. Plummer also had two of UTM’s five total sacks on the day.

On the offense, Wahlberg was 16-for-33 for 175 yards, but threw another five interceptions. Chapman broke 100 yards rushing for the first time since the Skyhawks faced Gardner-Webb on Sept. 24 with 134. Chapman is now just 32 yards away from breaking 1000 all-purpose yards for the season.

In the receiving game, Chapman also had 53 yards on 3 catches which was good enough for second best behind Stephens who had 54 yards on 6 catches.

Akbar made the most of his 46 yards, being the only Skyhawk to score a touchdown.

The Skyhawks look ahead as they travel to Charleston, Ill. this weekend to take on the Panthers of Eastern Illinois.

EIU currently sits alone in first place in the OVC, with a 5-2 record overall and is the only undefeated team in OVC play.

Last year, UTM defeated EIU at home for the Skyhawks lone conference victory.

Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at O’Brien Stadium.