Chattanooga Postmortem

[Sly Fox]

Here's Chris' recap of the frustrating night against Chatty:

Flames' suffering continues

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
October 9, 2005

The sting of Saturday night’s 24-21 loss to Chattanooga likely won’t hit Liberty University’s players until this afternoon, when the team congregates to watch film at LU’s Hancock Athletic Center.

Only then will the Flames realize how many points they left on the field, and how many opportunities they had to put away the Mocs and end a four-game losing streak.

Esteban Lopez’s 29-yard field goal as time expired gave the Mocs (4-2) the victory. But Liberty (1-5) had opportunities to score at least 20 more points.

“We were the better football team,” LU coach Ken Karcher said. “Their coach told me that. And we knew it. Saying 20 points, that may be light. We might have left 28 on the field.”

The result was the one true negative for the Flames at Williams Stadium. They found a running game for the first time since Week 1 against Concord, as freshman quarterback Zach Terrell ran for 241 yards on 32 carries, becoming the 12th back in school history to break the 200-yard mark.

The passing game was fluid and effective, and Brock Farrel threw his first touchdown pass in five weeks, hitting Chris Luck for an 11-yard score with 5:20 left to put LU up 21-14.

But those last five minutes will haunt LU. Chattanooga rallied to score the game’s final 10 points and escape with their second road win of the year.

“The defense played hard,” Terrell said. “They gave it their all. But the kid made the kick when he had to under pressure.”

Eldra Buckley’s 1-yard TD run with 2:13 left tied the game at 21, but the Flames had plenty of time to get into field-goal range.

The Mocs’ defense toughened, forcing a three-and-out, giving Chattanooga the ball at its own 25 with a minute left.

Two big plays hurt LU. After quarterback Antonio Miller hit Eldra Buckley with a three-yard screen pass, LU was flagged for roughing the passer, moving Chattanooga to the LU 40.

On 3rd-and-8 from the Liberty 38, Miller

found Emmanuel Hassell for what should have been a short gain. But at the LU 25, LU’s Kenneth Kemp and Kevin Moon missed tackles, and Hassell barreled to the 12, setting up Lopez’s game-winning kick.

“We actually hit him when he caught the ball, and that didn’t blow the ball up,” Karcher said. “Then we miss the tackle.”

The Flames played mostly zone defense on the final drive, wary of the athletic Miller’s running ability.

The game should have never been that close. Terrell fumbled at the Chattanooga 2 in the first half, killing a sure LU score. Later in the half, Miller threw a lazy pass and cornerback Pat Calvary stepped in front of it. With no one between him and the end zone, he dropped the would-be interception.

The Flames also missed two makeable field goals. Zac Kolegue’s 38-yard attempt in the first quarter was blocked because of poor blocking on the right side, Karcher said. And Ben Beasley was wide right on a 26 yarder in the fourth quarter.

“They’ve got a job to do,” Karcher said.

“They’ve got to put the thing through.”

After a second straight heartbreaking home defeat - LU lost 10-7 to VMI last Saturday when Kolegue’s 28-yard field goal hit the left upright in the final minute - the Flames at least took solace in the progress made since an embarrassing 56-0 defeat at William & Mary Sept. 24.

“We’ll look (on film today) at some of the mistakes we made,” Farrel said. “But then we’ll look at where we’ve gotten better. Then Tuesday, we’ll go out and scrimmage.”

Chattanooga 24, Liberty 21

Chattanooga 7 0 7 10-24

Liberty 7 0 7 7-21

First Quarter

LU-Terrell 3 run (Kolegue kick), 11:54. Drive: 5 plays, 30 yards, 2:03. Key play: UTC punt returner T.T. Harper muffs punt and LU’s Pat Calvary recovers, giving LU the ball at the UTC 30.

UTC-Davis 9 pass from Miller (Lopez kick), 9:02. Drive: 8 plays, 60 yards, 2:48. Key play: Miller breaks free for a 14-yard gain on a designed draw on 3rd-and-8 from the LU 23.

Third Quarter

UTC-Davis 20 run (Lopez kick), 9:16. Drive: 13 plays, 80 yards, 5:44. Key play: on 2nd-and-7 from the LU 34, a bad option pitch from Miller to Davis hits the turf but bounces right to guard Josh Morris, who runs to the LU 24.

LU-Terrell 6 run (Kolegue kick), 7:49. Drive: 5 plays, 65 yards, 1:27. Key play: Terrell breaks off right for a 42-yard gain to put LU at the UTC 26.

Fourth Quarter

LU-Luck 11 pass from Farrel (Kolegue kick), 5:20. Drive: 11 plays, 83 yards, 5:46. Key play: Terrell gains 1 yard on 3rd-and-inches from the LU 26 to keep the drive alive.

UTC-Buckley 1 run (Lopez kick), 2:13. Drive: 9 plays, 65 yards, 3:07. Key play: Buckley runs for 9 yards on 3rd-and-4 from the LU 18.

UTC-FG Lopez 29, 00:00. Drive: 7 plays, 63 yards, 1:00. Key play: Miller finds Hassell for a 26-yard gain to put UTC at the LU 12.

A-3,683.

UTC LU

Firstdowns 27 19

Rushes-yards 41-245 44-300

Passing 179 112

Comp-Att-Int 21-35-1 13-25-0

ReturnYards -4 -2

Punts-Avg. 4-34 4-42

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-1

Penalties-Yards 6-65 9-103

TimeofPossession 31:18 28:42

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Chattanooga, Buckley 21-111, Davis 15-98, Miller 5-28, Morris 0-8. Liberty, Terrell 32-241, Fluellen 8-41, Farrel 3-22, Williams 1-(minus)4.

PASSING-Chattanooga, Miller 21-35-179. Liberty, Farrel 13-25-112.

RECEIVING-Chattanooga, Hassell 8-81, Davis 5-48, Buckley 3-28, Gilmore 3-13, Barber 1-8, Johnson 1-1. Liberty, Luck 3-48, Turner 2-17, Fluellen 2-8, Terrell 2-8, Williams 2-3, Bolden 1-14, Jackson 1-14.

www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=LNA%2FMGArticle%2FLNA_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1128767438366&path=!sports

[thesportscritic]

I guess we will see next week if yesterday was just a fluke. The team needs to stop choking when it matters the most on critical drives. I was at the game last night and I was impressed with Zach Terrell as a running back.

[PAmedic]

SPORTSCRITIC givin props to the football team. PRINT THAT ONE!

[PAmedic]

Here's the story from our beloved school website, complete w/ what looks to be a pic from the UConn game:

Last Second Field Goal Propels Mocs Over Flames

Esteban Lopez connected on a 29-yard field goal as time expired to lift visiting Chattanooga to a thrilling 24-21 victory over Liberty, Saturday evening, at Williams Stadium.

The contest marked the best offensive output of the season for the Flames as Liberty racked up 412 yards of total offense, including an impressive 300 yards on the ground, while the Flames scored their first first half points of the season; however, it wasn’t good enough for the victory as the Mocs just edged out the Flames with 424 total offensive yards, including 245 on the ground.

After a three-and-out series to start off the game, the Flames were forced to punt; however, T.T. Harper could not handle the kick, fumbling the ball at the UTC 32-yard line where Patrick Calvary was able to recover the miscue.

Five plays later, Liberty (1-5) made the most of the opportunity as Zach Terrell took a handoff and found the endzone on a three-yard run to the left side, giving the Flames a 7-0 lead with 11:54 left in the first quarter, marking Liberty’s quickest score of the season.

However, Chattanooga (4-2) counter punched on the ensuing drive as the Mocs were able to march down the field and cap off an eight-play, 60-yard drive with a nine-yard play action pass from Antonio Miller to Lironnie Davis to knot the game at 7-7 with 9:02 left in the opening period.

The score remained the same for the rest of the first half; however, both teams had legitimate scoring opportunities as Zacry Kolegue had a 38-yard field goal attempt blocked by Greg McConico on the second to last play of the first quarter, while Kevin Moon picked off a Miller pass on the Flames’ 26-yard line with 2:22 left before the intermission.

The Mocs took their first lead of the evening on the opening drive of the second half as Davis found an opening on the left side and evaded several defenders on a 20-yard touchdown run to finish off a 13-play, 80-yard opening half drive.

But the Flames quickly answered back as a 42-yard rushing play by Terrell up the middle followed by a 17-yard run by Brock Farrel got Liberty into the red zone where Terrell scored his second rushing touchdown of the evening on a six-yard run over the right tackle to knot the score at 14-14 with 7:49 left in the third quarter.

Both team’s defenses held strong over the next 15 minutes until the Flames used 10-consecutive rushing plays to set up an 11-yard touchdown pass play from Farrel to tight end Chris Luck over the middle, giving Liberty a 21-14 lead with 5:20 left on the game clock.

But the Mocs once again answered back as Chattanooga marched 65 yards down the field on nine plays, including a one-yard run up the middle by Eldra Buckley for a touchdown with 2:13 left in the contest to tie the game at 21-21.

Liberty failed to move the chains on its ensuing drive and was forced to punt as Noah Crouch booted a 43-yard punt to pin the Mocs at their own 25-yard line with just 60 seconds left in regulation.

After a 16-yard screen pass from Miller to Buckley, Miller found Buckley open again for just a three-yard gain; however, the Flames were whistled for a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty, giving the Mocs the ball at the Liberty 40-yard line. After holding Chattanooga on the next two plays, Miller was able to find Emanuel Hassell open for a 26-yard gain on third-and-eight as the wide receiver was able to catch the pass despite double coverage by the Flames, giving Chattanooga the ball on the Flames’ 12-yard line with just four ticks left on the clock.

And after a series of timeouts by both teams, Lopez was able to send the game-winning 29-yard field goal through the uprights as the clock expired, giving the visitors the victory.

Offensively, the star of the evening was Terrell as the converted quarterback rushed for 241 yards on 32 carries (averaging 7.5 yards per carry) and two touchdowns, which marked the sixth best rushing performance in school history. Buckley led the Mocs’ ground game as he rushed for 111 yards on 21 carries and a score, while Davis added 98 yards and a touchdown on 15 rushing attempts.

Miller completed 21-of-35 pass attempts for 179 yards, while Farrel was 13-of-25 for 112 yards with both signal callers recording a touchdown. Luck led the Flames’ receivers with 48 yards on three receptions, while Hassell was Miller's favorite target as he caught eight passes for 81 yards.

Manny Rojas finished with 13 tackles for the second-straight week to lead the Flames defense, while E.L. Estes recorded a career-best 10 tackles. Lonnie McCowan paced the Mocs with nine tackles, followed by Larry White and Jeff Phillips with eight stops each.

The Flames will continue a four-game homestand as they host former rival Towson at Williams Stadium next Saturday for a 7 p.m. contest.