Murray State
Tennessee Tech
Racers Fall In OVC Opener At Tech
9/27/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
The Murray State football team opened its Ohio Valley Conference schedule with a disappointing 49-24 loss at Tennessee Tech today at Tucker Stadium in Cookeville, Tenn.
The Racers (1-4, 0-1 OVC) opened things up by scoring the first 14 points of the day and held a 17-7 lead at halftime only to see the Golden Eagles (2-2, 1-0 OVC) storm back to score the final 35 points of the game.
MSU took an early 7-0 lead with 8:55 to go in the first quarter as freshman tailback Chad Cook rumbled into the end zone from a yard out after the Racer defense forced a Tech fumble to gain great field position at the TTU 19-yard line.
The Racers increased their lead to 14-0 with 1:54 to go as sophomore quarterback Stephen Hatchell, playing in place of injured senior Stewart Childress, found senior wide out Andrew Nowacki for a 32-yard touchdown pass.
After Tech cut the lead to 14-7 with 5:10 to go in the second quarter, MSU senior placekicker Jesse Ohliger knocked home a 47-yard field goal on the final play of the first half to give the Racers a 10-point halftime lead.
Early in the third quarter, the Golden Eagles' capped a quick two-play, 54-yard drive as Jason Ballard scored his second of three touchdowns on the day, a 37-yard run, to pull Tech to within 17-14 with 11:10 to go.
The Racers answered back by marching 75 yards on 10 plays and topped it off as Hatchell found senior wide receiver Deandre Green on a fourth-and-goal play from the three-yard line for the touchdown and a 24-14 lead.
Tech pulled back to within three points at 24-21 with 2:38 to go in the third quarter as quarterback Robert Craft found Derek White for a 52-yard scoring play, the first of four touchdowns on the day by White.
The Golden Eagles gained the lead for the first time on the day at 28-24 just moments later as White rumbled in from 51 yards out with :55 seconds left in the third quarter.
TTU added three more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach of the Racers.
The Racers were outgained in total yardage 446-220 as the Golden Eagles managed 280 yards rushing on 49 carries, compared to MSU's 77 yards on 32 carries.
Hatchell, a native of Mayfield, Ky., making the first start of his career, had a solid afternoon through the air with 143 yards on 12-of-23 passing with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Junior wide out/cornerback Laroni Gallishaw led the way for the MSU receiving corps with three catches for 53 yards. He also added 144 yards on seven kick returns and one rush for 16 yards for a total of 213 all-purpose yards.
Senior linebacker Tyrone Parks led the way for the Racer defense with 12 tackles, while senior defensive back Josh Catlett added 11 tackles. Junior linebacker Dory Brown added five tackles, including three for loss.
Up next, MSU hosts Jacksonville State on Saturday, Oct. 4, in a regionally televised OVC matchup on Fox Sports Net South. Kick off between the Racers and Gamecocks is set for 2:30 p.m. at Roy Stewart Stadium.
POST GAME COMMENTS
MSU head coach Joe Pannunzio:
"It kinda fell apart on us in the second half. We're going to have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what we can do to correct our problems and get better."
"I felt really good about where we were at halftime, and even in the middle of the third quarter when we were up 24-14, but we just let things get away from us. We've got to look hard at what we're doing defensively. We're certainly not as productive as we could be on offense either, but we can't allow teams to run all over us and expect to win."
"We will certainly find out what we're made of. We had a lot of breakdowns today, especially in the second half and we can't afford to do that. We've got to start running the ball better and we've got to start stopping the run before we're going to improve."
