Racers Drop 38-24 Affair to UT Martin

Saturday, October 24

Martin, Tenn.

6 p.m.

Murray State

UT Martin

10/25/2009 4:15:00 AM | Football

Box Score

UT Martin put together a 99 yard drive midway through the fourth quarter to take a two touchdown lead in handing Murray State a 38-24 defeat Saturday afternoon at Graham Stadium.

Trailing by seven points in the fourth quarter, MSU punter Kienan Cullen booted a 38 yard punt that was downed on the UTM one-yard line. The Skyhawks were unphased by the bad field position as they ran the ball six-straight plays and found themselves all the way to the Racer 31-yard line. After a 20 yard pass play set up a first and goal, UTM went back to the ground game and Brandyn Young went in from one yard out to seal the victory.

The Skyhawks (3-5, 2-3 OVC) got on the board on their second possession as Cade Thompson found Jason McNair wide open down the middle of field for a 73-yard touchdown.

The Racers (2-5, 1-3 OVC) had an answer to the Skyhawk score as Patrick Robertson returned the kickoff 33 yards to Racer 48. MSU followed it by putting together a 14-play drive that saw the Racers convert three third downs and one fourth down. The drive culminated with Nico Yantko finding Ja-Vonta Trotter across the middle for a 10-yard touchdown. The TD was the first in the career for Trotter.

UTM struck quickly to regain the lead as Thompson capped off a six play, 67-yard yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run.

The Racers were able to tie the game on their next possession as they put together a nine-play drive that covered 69 yards. The drive started with back-to-back completions to Rashad Daniels (nine yards) and Marcus Harris (14 yards). MSU converted its second third down of the drive as Yantko found Patrick Robertson for six yards. Three plays later, the combo of Yantko and Robertson hooked up again, this time on a 26-yard scoring strike on a fade down the right sideline. The touchdown was the first in the career for the sophomore receiver.

The Racer defense rose to the occasion on the next Skyhawk possession as pressure forced a second-down incompletion and Lamar Theus sacked Thompson on third down. UTM attempted to punt, but Taylor Lanigan had other ideas as he came around right end and blocked the punt before falling on it in the endzone for the third touchdown of his career.

“We noticed that they were a little shorter on the left side and not blocking out as much,” said Lanigan. “We are worked on it in practice this week and I was able to block two in that same situation. When the ball was bouncing on the ground, I had the mind set that I was going to do whatever it took to score.”

UTM closed out the first-half scoring as Tom Hansen banged a 30-yard field goal of the left upright and through with 1:17 left on the first-half clock.

UTM regained the lead early in the third quarter as they took advantage of a short field and Thompson found Stephen Shiver for a 19-yard touchdown.

The Racers were able to bounce back one more time as they tied the score on a 37-yard Kienan Cullen field goal. Nathan Brinkley setup the drive by returning the kickoff to midfield and Harris had two big catches to put the Racers in field-goal range.

The third-quarter scoring continued as Miguel Barnes capped off the next Skyhawk possession with a 10-yard TD run around left end.

“The guys are a little down right now, but we as coaches and are going to have to get them back up and ready to play,” said head coach Matt Griffin. “We will put this game behind us and get our minds focused for Eastern Illinois starting tomorrow.”

The Racers return to Stewart Stadium next Saturday as they play host to Eastern Illinois. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.