Murray State
Tennessee State
Defense Uses Goaline Stand to Send Racers to Victory Over Tennessee State
11/22/2008 6:00:00 AM | Football
A hush fell over the Stewart Stadium crowd on Saturday afternoon as Murray State linebacker Tamar Butler batted a pass into the air in the endzone. The silence quickly turned into a raucous celebration as the ball fell harmlessly to the ground as the scoreboard clock read zero's and the Racers capped off the 2008 season with a stunning 24-17 victory over #25 Tennessee State.
"We had to step up," said senior strong safety Will Werner. "You get in a situation where you need to make plays and that is what the whole year is about. For a game like that, it comes down to step up and stop them, and we did that."
The Tigers (8-4, 5-3 OVC) started the last drive on their own 35-yard line with 1:32 remaining in the game. Antonio Heffner completed a pair of passes to put TSU into Racer territory. On a second down play, Austen Lane kept contain on the outside and dropped Heffner for a loss. TSU responded with a completion and an 18-yard Heffner run to set up the Tigers on the Racer eight yard line with 10 seconds remaining.
The Racer (5-7, 4-4 OVC) secondary had great coverage on the next play and forced Heffner to throw the ball away. On the final play of the game, Heffner threw the ball over the middle and Butler batted it in the air before free safety Taylor Lanigan made sure the receiver did not catch the ball, ending the game.
The last second stand was just one of the three big stops the defense had in the fourth quarter. On the Tigers second possession of the quarter, Heffner led a drive that took the team deep inside Racer territory. After a three-yard run set up a fourth-and-one on the Racer nine, Harry McCall and Lanigan came around the edge and stopped Heffner in the backfield to turn the ball over on downs.
TSU got the ball back two plays later as they forced a fumble and recovered it at the Racer 20. After driving inside the Racer 10-yard line, Lane broke through the line and dropped Heffner for a nine-yard sack. For Lane, it was the 11th sack of the season, setting a new MSU single-season record. After an incompletion on third down, Will Werner stepped up and intercepted a pass on the goaline to end the scoring threat.
"We had a feeling they may try the read option. Blake Booth made a big play on him and then the interception," said Werner. "It has been awhile since my last one and I wanted a few more. If I were to pick a game to have one it would have been this one."
The Racers got on the board in the first quarter as they used a 14-play opening drive that resulted in a Kienan Cullen 28-yard field goal. The field goal marked the first time the Racers have scored on their opening drive of the game since the Lambuth game on Sept. 15, 2007. Jeff Ehrhardt led the way as he went 6-for-7 for 50 yards on the drive.
MSU extended its leas in the second quarter as Ehrhardt found Zach Knight on a key third-down conversion to the TSU 17. Two plays later, Ehrhardt found Ard over the middle for a nine-yard touchdown pass.
TSU responded on their next drive JuJuan Spillman caught a 15-yard scoring strike from Heffner.
The MSU special team's set up the Racers next drive as Jordan Gay's punt hit a Tiger player in the back and Josh Marshall pounced on the ball at the Tiger 29. With the first-half clock winding down, Ehrhardt found DeAngelo Nelson for a nine-yard catch and run that sent the teams into intermission with the Racers ahead 17-7. For Nelson, it was the first touchdown catch of the season.
The TSU offense got things going in the second half as they took the opening kickoff and marched 66 yards on 11 plays. Dominic Grooms capped the drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Belvin.
The Racers responded on their next drive as Ehrhardt scrambled to convert a third-and-long before throwing a screen pass to Marcus Harris that resulted in a 30-yard touchdown.
TSU scored its final points of the game on their next drive as they drove deep into Racer territory, but could not get into the endzone and had to settle for a 22-yard Eric Benson field goal.
The game was the final one for seven players, a group that has been the foundation for this Racer program.
"Those guys have been through a lot," said head coach Matt Griffin. "I think that their class started out about 24 strong before we got here and we got six left. Those six guys don't know the word quit. You can tip your hat to them because they have been through a lot."
