The Skyhawk football team dropped its home opener last Thursday night to the Tigers of Tennessee State University, 27-13.

The real action of the game started in the second quarter after neither team was able to put points on the board in the first. With 10:32 left in the half, Tiger quarterback Bryson Rosser completed a 47-yard pass to Jarrett Morrow for the touchdown, putting the first points on the board, 7-0.

Two drives later, UTM came back and got within one point when freshman running back Donald Chapman scored on a one-yard rush with 3:50 left in the second half.

The extra point attempt by junior kicker Taylor Brown was blocked, leaving the Skyhawks trailing 7-6.

On the next drive, TSU increased its lead on a 78-yard, nine-play drive that inlcuded four first downs. The TD came on a 19-yard pass by Bryson, bringing the score to 14-6, which is where it stayed until the end of the half.

The Tigers had the first drive of the third quarter and mounted an impressive 15-play drive for 59 yards that brought them in field goal range.

The 29-yard kick was wide left, leaving the score 14-6.

The Skyhawks capitalized on their next possession and had the longest drive of the night for 80 yards.

Junior quarterback Brady Wahlberg picked up his 16 yards rushing on the night to score his first touchdown of the season with 4:13 left in the quarter.

This time, the PAT was good, bringing the Skyhawks to within one, yet again.

UTM started the fourth quarter with a drive that included four first downs for a 32-yard gain and resulted in the Skyhawks taking 6:25 off the clock and no change in the score.

The Skyhawks also had another unsuccessful drive that resulted in no gain and gave TSU possession of the ball on the UTM 45-yard line.

The Tigers took the ball and had a quick 45-yard drive that resulted in a TD by TSU’s All-American Charles Anthony. The kick was no good, but TSU increased its lead to 20-13.

UTM regained possession with 3:58 left in the game. Wahlberg fumbled the ball, which was recovered by fellow Skyhawks, then threw an incomplete pass and an interception to TSU’s Justin Williams.

Williams ran the ball in 25 yards for TSU’s fourth TD on the night. The six points and the PAT brought the score to 27-13 with only 2:55 left on the clock.

The Skyhawks then started their next to last drive, which resulted in one play by Wahlberg — an interception by Williams yet again.

TSU’s last drive found the Tigers picking up two penalties for a loss of 10 yards; five for illegal participation and five for delay of game.

The penalities gave the Skyhawks the ball one last time with just :35 seconds left in the game.

UTM had time for only one play attempt, which resluted in Wahlberg being sacked for a loss of 3 yards.

The Skyhawks’ defense did a fairly good job against the Tigers, holding the team to 156 yards rushing.

However, TSU’s Anthony proved why he earned the All-American label by rushing for 161 yards on his own, five yards more than the team’s net total.

Anthony and Williams were named the OVC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively.

“To win you have to play good defense,” said Matt Griffin, the Skyhawks’ second-year head coach.

“The thing you see and hear is we are hitting people hard. We are making contact.

“Last year we were giving up about 400 yards or more a game,” Griffin said.

“So far in our first two games, we have been giving up about 300 yards. We are getting better, but there are no moral victories here.”

Wahlberg led the offense, throwing for 167 yards, which was nine more than the Tigers.

Chapman once again led the team in rushing yards with 66 of the Skyhawks’ 82 total yards.

Defensively, sophomore linebacker Markeseo Jackson topped the Skyhawk tackles list for the second week in a row with nine. Senior linebacker John Castillo and junior defensive back Chad McMahan were close behind with eight apiece.

The Skyhawks are now 0-2 on the season as they look ahead to Saturday’s game against the Governors of Austin Peay.

APSU is also 0-2 on the season, coming off a 24-14 loss to Valparaiso.

Last year’s contest found the Skyhawks picking up the victory, 21-20.

The Skyhawk offense had an impressive 403 total yards on the night. But APSU made it a close game, scoring 13 points in the fourth and missing the last PAT, which would have sent the game into overtime.

APSU is not currently in the OVC for football, but is for all other sports.

In OVC standings, TSU is first with one conference win. Seven other teams are tied with no conference games played, and UTM is ninth with one conference game loss.

Kickoff for Saturday’s game is scheduled for noon at Governors Stadium in Clarksville.