Despite a spirited second-half rally, the VMI football team could not rally from a 28-0 halftime deficit and fell to East Tennessee State, 35-21, in the Southern Conference opener for both teams Saturday night at Memorial Center in Johnson City, Tennessee.
Buc tailback Gaven Varner rushed for 128 yards and three first half touchdowns and ETSU quarterback Jatavis Sanders completed 20 of 31 passes for 213 yards to lead the Bucs.
In a tale of two halves, VMI dug itself a hole it could not escape despite the second half heroics.
East Tennessee State enjoyed a 28-0 cushion at halftime after rolling up 289 yards total offense and capitalizing on an interception and blocked punt in the first half, but the Keydets offense led by the arm of quarterback Joey Gibson, initiated a third-quarter comeback. Gibson, who had completed just four of 14 passes with two interceptions in the first half, hooked up with wideout Greg Carlson on a 73-yard pass play, bringing VMI all the way to the ETSU four-yard line and set up the Keydets first score of the game with 11:30 left in the third quarter. Gibson found the endzone on a QB sneak from two yards out to make the score 28-7.
After a defensive stop, VMI drove 71 yards on its next possession and scored on another Gibson sneak, this time on the ETSU one-yard line to halve the deficit at 28-14 with 3:48 left in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Keydets took advantage of a Musa Sarki interception and kept rolling on the offensive side of the ball when Gibson found John Bell on a 15-yard TD pass to make it 28-21 with 8:05 remaining.
But ETSU's offense, which had been dormant the entire second half, came to life when the Bucs took the ensuing possession 63 yards on 10 plays and consumed 4:31 of the precious fourth quarter clock and produced the final score on the game on a 21-yard run draw by Sanders with 3:34 left.
Cornerback Montreal Harkley led the Buccaneer defense with two interceptions for a total of 80 return yards and seven tackles, while Justin Reinier picked off a Gibson pass with 43 seconds remaining in the game to seal the victory.
Gibson completed nine of 18 passes in the second half for 196 yards and finished the game with 228 yards passing. Wideouts Greg Carlson (133 yards) and T.J. Snelling (60 yards) each caught four passes.
Keydet corner back Musa Sarki recovered a fumble and intercepted his third pass of the season. Both plays led to VMI scores in the second half comeback.
VMI (2-2) returns home Saturday to face Furman at 1:00 p.m. for a homecoming game at Alumni Memorial Field.
VMI HEAD COACH CAL MCCOMBS - "We've got to learn as a team that we can't turn the football over and give people short fields. Defensively, we played too many plays in the first half - I think 47 snaps - and only 20 on offense, too many three and outs and our defense had to stay on the field too long and we fell behind 28-0. In the second half, we played like we were capable of playing and had a chance to jump back in, but it just didn't work out and we couldn't stop them on that drive. But you look back at the games we've won, we've been plus in the turnover margin. We had four turnovers tonight and a blocked punt, and you're not going to win football games being in the "minus" in turnovers."
"Musa Sark competed like gang busters and was a fierce competitor and took the tough assignment of handling their big receiver Moore. Musa played a great football game and was a great competitor."
"Joey (Gibson) tried to force some things in the first half, but came back in the second half and played with a lot of poise. Had we played the first half like the second half, we would have won. We knew coming in that they (ETSU) had struggled in the their first three games, and keeping them from getting a good start was important. We gave them too many short fields in the first half, and our offense wasn't on the field long enough in the first half."
