CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Freshman slotback Sean Mizzer rushed for a career-high 125 yards and two touchdowns and quarterback Joey Gibson completed 16 of 28 passes for 223 yards to lead VMI past Chattanooga, 35-31, Saturday night before 5,327 spectators at Finley Stadium.
The win was VMI's second straight and evened the Keydet overall record to 4-4 and 2-3 in the Southern Conference. The Keydets also captured their first road conference win since 1996.
Chattanooga fell to 0-7, 0-3 in the league.
The game saw six lead changes and VMI took the lead for good midway in the fourth quarter on a nine-play, 62 yard drive capped by Mizzer's three-yard touchdown run with 8:16 left. Mizzer rushed five times for 32 yards on the decisive possession and Gibson completed three of four passes for 30 yards on the drive.
Chattanooga drove to the VMI 23 on the ensuing possession, but an incomplete pass, a nine-yard sack of Moc quarterback Ryan McCann by Matt Kluk, and another incomplete pass ended Chattanooga's final scoring threat with 4:08 remaining.
VMI was able to run out the clock thanks in part to a third-and-seven conversion pass to Pedro Garcia for 18 yards to the UTC 27. Four rushes later, VMI had notched its first ever win in three trips to Finley Stadium.
The Keydets built a 21-10 lead when free safety Robert Mason returned a UTC fumble and returned it 17 yards for a touchdown on the the Mocs' opening drive of the second half. The Mocs stormed back to take a 24-21 lead with 8:27 left in the third quarter on touchdown passes from McCann to Jason Jones covering 44 and four yards.
VMI retook the lead briefly when good field position aided a four-play 52-yard drive capped by Gibson's one-yard sneak to make it 28-24 with six ticks left in the third quarter. A 47-yard strike from Gibson to Garcia to the UTC 1 was the key blow in the drive.
The Mocs marched 74 yards on eight plays to take their final lead, 35-31, on a McCann quarterback keeper for a 27-yard touchdown at the 12:18 mark.
VMI rolled up 223 yards rushing - the second highest of the season - and Mizzer became the first VMI back to rush for over 100 yards since Gene Cauthen rushed for 154 yards against Duquesne in the 2001season opener.
Garcia led VMI receivers with six catches for 113 yards and went over the century mark in receiving for the second time this year.
Senior cornerback DeAngello Plather and Mason led the defense with eight tackles each. The Keydets also posted eight tackles for loss for -22 yards, including three by Kluk.
McCann completed completed 16 of 25 passes for 260 yards and two scores for the Mocs, and senior linebacker Josh Cain, the SoCon leading tackler, finished with 17 tackles.
VMI returns home next Saturday to face Liberty at 1:00 p.m. UTC travels to Western Carolina for a 2:00 p.m. start.
GAME NOTES - VMI snapped a 23-game SoCon road losing streak. Ironically, the previous SoCon road win occurred six years ago, Oct. 19, 1996, in Chattanooga, when the Keydets defeated the Mocs 28-14 at Chamberlin Field...senior punter Brent Barth became the all-time leader in punt yardage with 10, 157 yards, moving past Jim Bailey (1969-71). Barth, who entered the game second in the nation in punting, punted twice for a 52.5 average...Gibson set the school season record with six 200-yard passing games and also secured his 12th career 200-yard game.
VMI HEAD COACH CAL MCCOMBS - "It felt like one of those WAC shootouts when I was at Air Force. It was one of those deals where our offense had to answer about everytime. It's a credit to our offense,and a credit to our defense to stop them on two big plays on their last drive. Our kids did it when they had to do it. Was it a pretty win? Offensively, it was pretty nice, defensively, it wasn't as good as we wanted, but our team did what we had to do. We were able to run the ball and control the game a little better."
