By Rob Schabert, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Forget the wind and rain. Forget that the temperature dropped 17 degrees during the game to a cool 46 degrees.
For Tennessee Tech's senior class, Saturday was one of the most beautiful days of the year.
The seniors came up with several of the biggest plays of the afternoon as Tennessee Tech jumped out to an early lead, then stopped Tennessee State in several critical situations as the Golden Eagles wrapped up the 2015 season with a 30-24 Ohio Valley Conference victory in Tucker Stadium.
Ladarius Vanlier rushed for 132 yards and the game's first two touchdowns, and finished with 204 all-purpose yards to lead the offense. He scored from five yards on Tech's first possession for a 7-0 lead. Just over a minute later, on the next Tech offensive play following a TSU punt, Vanlier squeezed through a hole on the left side and galloped untouched for 79 yards and a 14-0 lead.
Defensively, Tra'Darius Goff topped the charts with 16 tackles, one tackle-for-loss, one pass breakup and one quarterback hurry. Jay Rudwall made 11 tackles in the contest.
Jordan Patrick had 11 tackles, one quarterback sack, two tackles-for-loss and one hurry. He blew up the offensive line on a fourth quarter third-and-one, stopping the ball carrier for a loss and forcing the Tigers to punt. On Tennessee State's final possession, he came up with an 11-yard quarterback sack that realistically halted the Tigers' last chance.
The Golden Eagles (4-7/3-5 OVC) also got some big plays from underclassmen for the win, with one of the biggest coming from sophomore Mike Cain and junior Maleek Hall and another from freshman Chris Moore.
After Tech had forged a fast 14-0 lead on Vanlier's two touchdown runs, the Tigers marched 67 yards for a touchdown, with Erick Evans racing the final 22 yards to the end zone. On the PAT, Cain bulled through the middle of the line and blocked the kick and Hall picked up the bouncing ball and ran 90 yards for a two-point defensive PAT to make it 16-6.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Golden Eagles failed to pick up a bouncing ball deep in their own territory, and TSU recovered to set up a short scoring drive. Evans pushed it over from the one to make it 16-14.
Another critical play came from Golden Eagle defensive end Chris Moore, a true freshman. He intercepted a pass near midfield and rambled 52 yards for a touchdown and a 23-14 lead.
The only score of the third quarter was a nine-yard TD pass for TSU from O'Shay Ackerman-Carter to Patrick Smith. The trimmed the TTU lead to 23-21.
Quarterback Brock McCoin, was was 6-of-12 for 60 yards passing, hit his biggest completion of the day when he found Krys Cates open in the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown with 12:37 to play. That gave Tech a 30-21 lead.
Patrick, Rudwall and Goff had plays in the fourth quarter that preserved the win. Patrick got the tackle-for-loss on third-and one. On the next possession, when TSU drove to the Tech three-yard line, Goff and Rudwall stopped Evans at the one on second down, then on third down Goff got to Ackerman-Carter, forcing a hurried throw that fell incomplete in the end zone.
TSU settled for a field goal to make it 30-24.
Vanlier returned the kickoff 48 yards into TSU territory and McCoin and Co. chiseled more than two minutes off the clock before being forced to punt. Jonathan King's kick pinned TSU at the tiger seven with two minutes remaining.
Kevin Robinson-White got a quarterback hurry to force an incompletion, followed by another QB hurry from Patrick. On third-and-three, Patrick sacked Ackerman-Carter for an 11-yard loss and the Tigers' fourth-down try went incomplete, with Hall breaking it up to clinch the win.
TSU was led on offense by Evans who rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries. Ackerman-Carter was 22-for-40 for 221 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Patrick Smith caught seven passes for 63 yards while Evans added six catches for 57 yards.
