CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – On Saturday night, the Wofford College football team was defeated 41-7 by Chattanooga at Finley Stadium. After a scoreless first quarter, the Mocs took a 31-7 lead at the end of the first half and added ten unanswered points in the second half.
Wofford is 2-2 and 1-1 in the SoCon, while Chattanooga is 2-2 overall and 1-0 in league play. The Terriers were led by
Ethan Drumm with 7-of-14 passing for 144 yards and
Terrence Honeywood with four receptions for 113 yards and a touchdown. The Mocs had a pair of 100-yard rushers in Kevin Lalin (110) and Journey Wyche (122) as they ran for 310 yards in the game.
"I am really disappointed," said head coach
Shawn Watson. "We didn't play a clean game at all. As coaches, we have to take the first level of responsibility, and it starts with me. We have got to have guys ready to play. We've got to look at that real hard, and we've got to get it fixed. Penalties hurt us offensively and then defensively. Both sides of the ball had some penalties that kept drives alive. So, we've got to get that cleaned up. We've got to get our turnovers cleaned up. We have way too many turnovers for this point in the season, so we need to get that fixed as well."
Wofford had the ball to open the game and had one first down and then converted a fourth-and-one. On another fourth-and-one, the Terriers were stopped for no gain at the 42-yard line. On Chattanooga's first drive, a sack on third down by
Joseph Polite forced a punt. With the ball back, Wofford again had a fourth-and-one, with
Gerald Modest Jr. converting the first down. An interception by the Mocs was called back due to penalty on the play.
Ethan Drumm was sacked on third down and fumbled, but the Terriers recovered and then punted.
With the ball back, the Mocs had three first downs on penalties. They then had three rushing first downs and scored on a two-yard run for a 7-0 lead with 12:37 on the clock in the second quarter. On the first play of the ensuing drive,
Ethan Drumm found
Terrence Honeywood for a 75-yard touchdown reception to tie the game at 7-7. The Mocs had a 43-yard run on their next drive, which was capped by a two-yard touchdown run for a 14-7 lead with 9:32 on the clock.
After a first down catch by
Jack Purdy was confirmed by replay,
Ethan Drumm was sacked and the fumble was recovered by the Mocs at the 31-yard line. After two first downs, a seven-yard touchdown run gave Chattanooga a 21-7 lead with 4:30 left in the first half. A pick-six on the first play of Wofford's next drive increased the lead to 28-7. The Terriers went three-and-out on their next possession and the Mocs had a 48-yard run to move across midfield at the two-minute timeout. The drive ended with a 42-yard field goal with 27 seconds remaining. Wofford ran one play before the first half ended.
The Mocs opened the second half and had runs of 29 yards and 32 yards to move inside the redzone. A two-yard touchdown drive pushed the lead to 38-7 at the 8:57 mark of the third quarter. Wofford gained a first down and then picked up a first down on fourth-and-eleven, but the play was called back due to a penalty and the Terriers punted. After the Mocs had one first down and punted, the Terriers went three-and-out. Chattanooga followed with a three-and-out, but Wofford was unable to gain a first down on the ensuing drive and punted. The Mocs had a rushing first down and ended the drive with a 37-yard field goal for a 41-7 lead with 8:51 remaining in the game. On the next drive by Wofford, they gained one first down and punted. The Mocs also had one first down before punting with 2:33 left in the game. With the ball back, the Terriers had a 32-yard first down run by
Troy Timko before time expired.
Wofford had 250 total yards on offense, with 158 passing yards. Chattanooga had 356 total yards, with 310 of those rushing yards. Wofford had nine first downs to 17 for the Mocs. Wofford was 3-of-14 on third down and 2-of-3 on fourth down. Chattanooga was 5-of-11 on third down. Wofford had seven penalties for 16 yards, while Chattanooga had six penalties for 35 yards. Chattanooga had a 36:54 to 23:06 time of possession advantage.
Wofford vs. Chattanooga Post-Game Notes
This was the 33
rd meeting between the two teams. With the win, Chattanooga takes a 17-16 lead in the series.
The 75-yard touchdown reception by
Terrence Honeywood was the 11
th longest in school history. He ended the game with his first career 100+ receiving game, which was also the first by a Terrier this season.
The Wofford defense was led by
Wyatt Ward with seven tackles.
Joseph Polite had his first career sack in the first quarter.
An opponent had a pair of 100+ yard rushers for the first time since Sept. 14, 2013 (Georgia Southern). The Mocs had over 300 rushing yards, the first opponent to do so since October 29, 2022 (ETSU).
Game captains were
Eli Campbell,
Clayton Hixon and
Isaiah Scott.
Attendance at Finley Stadium was 7,205.
Wofford will return home on September 26 to host SoCon newcomer Tennessee Tech as part of Family Weekend activities. Tickets are available by visiting
https://woffordterriers.com/tickets.
