Mocs dominate in home opener 30-13

UTC's football team has created a buzz on campus, and 14,002 fans roaring their approval at Finley Stadium Thursday night was proof of that. The Mocs matched their win total from 2008 and snapped a 10 game losing streak. The 2009 Mocs defeated Division II Glenville State Thursday night 30-13 in front of a raucous crowd with nearly 2,000 members of the student body on hand. Before the game even started the changes instilled by this new coaching staff were evident.

Head Coach Russ Huesman gave a spirited pep talk to all the fans via the scoreboard jumbo screen before kickoff. He talked about establishing new traditions. Huesman played here from 1978-81 and was a part of championship teams at UTC. His enthusiasm was apparent after his pregame speech to the fans preparing for kickoff.

From the opening kickoff, Glenville State seemed rattled by the enthusiasm of UTC players, coaches, and fans. They took the kick eight yards deep and started at their own 10 yard line. Glenville State, from West Virginia wore blue pants with silver helmets. Their initial possession ended after one first down. After a successful fourth down conversion, Glenville State went to the air. No dice. UTC's Buster Skrine, a junior from Woodstock, Ga., picked off a tipped pass and returned it to the 23 yard line. Then the show started.

B.J Coleman, the sophomore from Chattanooga who transferred from Tennessee looked poised and in command. On his second play as a Moc, he floated a perfect pass that softly nestled into the outstretched arms of senior Blue Cooper from Rome, Ga. setting up a first and goal. On the very next play, freshman Bo Dyer, from Gatlinburg, Tn. would put UTC on the board with a dash off left tackle.

That made it 7-0 UTC. A better start could not be scripted for the for the young Mocs: good crowd, big turnover by your defense and the emergence of a quarterback that looks the part.

Coleman would miss a few, as Coach Huesman would comment later.

"B.J played well, but I know he's just kicking himself on a couple of throws," Huesman said.

Glenville State was really never able to muster much against a stingy UTC defense. Led by Senior linebacker Joe Thornton, from Stone Mountain, Ga. and his career high 13 tackles, the Mocs defense did a great job on third down as Glenville State only converted 5 of 17 third down conversions.

On the night, Coleman connected on 18 of 34 pass attempts for 258 yards including a 73 yard bomb to junior tight end Garrett Hughes.

The pass play was a result of Coleman scrambling from pressure and finding Hughes streaking down the right sideline. Hughes went untouched.

Coleman did pick on one player in particular, and may have found his "go-to" guy in the process. In camp, you never know who might step up, but UTC can hope to expect more big plays from specialist cornerback Buster Skrine who also bobbed and weaved for a spectacular touchdown jaunt on a blocked kick return for two points. Senior Blue Cooper, was everywhere though. He grabbed eight tosses for 127 yards. Huesman was very complimentary.

"Blue is a warrior, I love that kid," Huesman said. "He makes tough catches, he gets the ball."

After the game, Huesman talked about the butterflies before the game, the record crowd and the rousing win, but tempered the expectations a bit.

"I wasn't too nervous, just a sense of relief," Huesman said. "I knew we could win, but Glenville State was a tough team, they are going to win a lot of games this year. Our defense played decent, we got some turnovers, and I was so excited about the fan support, Our players went over, heck, I went over and high fived the student body, just super."

The long time nemesis, the Furman Paladins come calling this week. Furman opened its 2009 campaign with a decisive victory of Presbyterian.

UTC has an embarrassing 14 game losing streak to Furman. UTC's last victory in the series came in 1994, when the Mocs won 34-20 on Furman's home field.

The Paladins defeated UTC 35-10 last year in Greenville.

Furman and UTC tee it off at 6 p.m. at Finley Stadium Saturday night.