JOHNSON, CITY, Tenn. – Outscoring the Bucs 17-0 in the fourth quarter and 24-14 in the second half, the VMI Football team pulled out a gritty road win at ETSU on Saturday afternoon.
The Keydets now improve to 4-5 on the season, with an even 3-3 record in the Southern Conference, while ETSU drops to 2-7, 1-5 in the SoCon.
The victory – which is the 4th all-time for VMI in Johnson City - gives VMI a four-win season for just the fourth time in the last 15 years.
"We fought really hard, I'm really proud of our perseverance and our leadership," said head coach Danny Rocco. "It would have been easy to get down and feel sorry for ourselves but we opted not to do that…I thought it would be a competitive game and I'm proud of the way we fought and finished."
Key Stats
- VMI scores season-high 31 points in victory, 330 total yards with 223 coming in the second half with a perfect 4-for-4 on red zone attempts
- ETSU has a total of 424 yards with 286 on the ground led by Trey Foster's 173
- Hunter Rice (47 yards) records 9th touchdown in last 4 games (11 TDs on the year); 5th multi-touchdown performance of career, 4th of the season
- Collin Shannon records 1st 200-yard passing game of his career in 2nd start of season
- Ivan Thorpe registers 1st touchdown of career to go with 47 yards, - Aidan Twombly leads receivers with 71 yards on 4 catches
- Eric Rankin leads defense with 12.0 tackles, while Dorien Starnes has 7.0 tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery
- Alex Oliver forces and recovers fumble to go with 3.0 tackles
- Caden Beck hits 46-yarder, is 4-for-4 on PATs
- Austin White records his 1st interception of the season, 4th of career
What's Next
The Keydets remain on the road, visiting No. 2 Furman (8-1, 6-0 SoCon) next Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. in Greenville.
Catching up with Coach (Rocco)
On the Quarterbacks
"We wanted to see what it looked like if Shannon had a full game. So we remained patient there and in a lot of ways – this may sound odd – but Collin Ironside was just phenomenal all week in terms of being humble and a servant leader. He didn't change one thing this week in his preparation and was side by side with Collin Shannon all week and all day."
On the Team effort
"We played a more complete game today. Defensively they ran the ball against us too easily which is concerning. That's what they do well but we have to get some of that fixed. Offensively we put together some good series, and we made a few kicks today."
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
- The two sides trade possessions throughout the first quarter, including an Austin White interception which helps leave the game scoreless through one
- Oliver forces a fumble to start second and Dorien Starnes recovers to set up a 3-yard rushing touchdown for Rice (7-0, 10:08 2nd quarter after 11-play, 47-yard drive)
- ETSU responds with a touchdown (7-7) followed by a Shannon interception which set the Bucs up in plus territory, but the Keydet defense holds ETSU to a field goal as the VMI goes into the break trailing by three (7-10)
Second Half
- The Keydets would fumble on their opening possession, but the defense got the ball back with a goal-line stand. After a three and out, ETSU was able to cash in with a 32-yard touchdown run (7-17, 6:20 3rd quarter)
- Shannon and the offense respond with 8-play, 75-yard drive resulting in Rice's second touchdown of the day (14-17)
- ETSU answers with 64-yard rushing touchdown, taking a 24-14 lead into the 4th
- VMI remains disciplined, as Shannon hits Thorpe for 12-yard touchdown to make the deficit just three with 12 to play (21-24)
- Keydets force a fumble, Beck hits from 46-yards to tie game with 9:49 to play
- After just four plays, VMI defense forces a punt, as Shannon and the offense take over on the VMI 21 with 7:40 to play, culminating in the go-ahead touchdown from Rice (31-24)
- ETSU marches all the way down to the 7, but four straight incompletions ends the game
