Golden Eagles look for strong finish when they visit Austin Peay Saturday
November 14, 2012

Golden Eagles look for strong finish when they visit Austin Peay Saturday

On the heels of an overtime upset victory against No. 23 UT Martin last week, the Tennessee Tech football team looks to close out the season with back-to-back wins on Saturday when it plays a road game at Austin Peay.

Recap Box Score

View or download TTU football game notes vs. Austin Peay (PDF)

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- On the heels of an overtime upset victory against No. 23 UT Martin last week, the Tennessee Tech football team looks to close out the season with back-to-back wins on Saturday when it plays a road game at Austin Peay.

With an early kickoff time for national television (Fox College Sports) at 11 a.m., the Golden Eagles have a chance to tie for the Sgt. York Trophy. A Tech victory (coupled with a win by UT Martin over Tennessee State) would put Tech’s name on the trophy for the third consecutive year.

The Golden Eagle offense piled up 575 total yards against the Skyhawks, the most in Watson Brown’s six seasons as head coach. Sophomore quarterback Darian Stone tied a school record with 190 rushing yards (most by a quarterback) and accounted for 467 yards of total offense, the second-highest game in school history.   

Junior wide receiver Da’Rick Rogers needs one touchdown catch to tie the school record (10) for most in a season. He is also within reach of school marks for most catches (needs 13) and most yards (needs 78) in a season.

On defense, sophomore Tra’Darius Goff is within six tackles of making 100 this season.

On special teams, kicker Zach Sharp has already broken one school record (most consecutive PATs) by successfully making his last 53 PAT kicks including 11 to end last year and all 42 this year. He needs four PAT kicks to tie his own school record of 46 in a season.
   
Punter Chad Zinchini is also in line for a school record. His current average of 44.6 yards per kicks would break the record (currently 44.5 yards per kick).
   
Freshman Ladarius Vanlier has 32 kickoff returns, needing two to tie the school record.
   
Tech leads the all-time series, 28-17-1, including the last three.
   

Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (3-7, 1-6 OVC)
at Austin Peay Governors (1-9, 0-7 OVC)
Saturday, Nov. 17 • 11:00 a.m. CT
Governors Stadium (10,000) • Clarksville, Tenn.
 TV: FOX College Sports (live); FOX Sports South (delayed)
Live Stats: http://www.apsugovernors.com/liveStats/liveStats.dbml
 Series Record:...................... Tennessee Tech leads 28-17
Last Meeting:........... Tennessee Tech leads 49-7 (11/19/11)
Watson Brown at Tennessee Tech:................ 28-38 (6 yrs.)
Watson Brown Overall:......................... 122-189-1 (28 yrs.)
Rick Christophel at Austin Peay:................... 19-46 (6 yrs.)
Rick Christophel Overall:.......................................... same
Tennessee Tech Last Week: W, 45-44 vs. #23 UT Martin (OT)
Austin Peay Last Week:....... L, 38-23 at Jacksonville State
 
GAME NOTES: In-state rivals Austin Peay and Tennessee Tech will close out the 2012 season in the OVC TV Game of the Week on Saturday. The game will air live on FOX College Sports and be delayed on FOX Sports South (10 p.m. CT). The game is part of the Sgt. York Trophy series and Tennessee Tech can gain a share of the crown with a victory and a loss by Tennessee State. TTU has won the last three in the series with APSU, including a 49-7 victory a year ago in Cookeville that gave the Golden Eagles the OVC Championship. In that game the No. 21 ranked Golden Eagles led 14-7 at halftime but scored 28 unanswered points in the third quarter on its way to the 42-point victory. Tech was led by Dontey Gay who rushed for 192 yards and a touchdown while Tre Lamb passed for 112 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 52 yards and three more scores.

SCOUTING TENNESSEE TECH: Having battled injuries most of the season, Tennessee Tech finally had luck on its side on Saturday in topping No. 23 UT Martin 45-44 in overtime. Tech had entered the game having lost each of its last two games (to nationally-ranked TSU and OVC champion Eastern Illinois) by a combined eight points, but snapped its seven-game losing streak thanks to sophomore quarterback Darian Stone. Stone produced 466 yards of total offense (second-most in school history) to lead his team to the come-from-behind victory. In just his third career start Stone completed 16-of-29 passes for 277 yards and three scores (including a 79-yard touchdown to put his team on top with 1:10 to play in regulation) and rushed for 190 yards, the most by a TTU quarterback in school history. The performance earned him Sports Network National Offensive Player of the Week honors. Doug Page rushed for 81 yards and two touchdowns, including a 2-yard run in overtime that ultimately proved to be the game-winner (after UTM missed an extra point attempt). Freshman cornerback Demario Donnell made his first career and made 15 tackles and broke up a pass in the victory. Senior Marcus Edwards added nine tackles, 2.0 sacks and forced a fumble.
 
SCOUTING AUSTIN PEAY: Austin Peay held a 16-14 halftime advantage at Jacksonville State on Saturday but was outscored 21-0 in the third quarter on its way to a 38-23 loss. Senior quarterback Jake Ryan had a big day, setting APSU single-game records for pass attempts (60) and completions (41). He passed for a career-high 375 yards and had three touchdowns. The senior needs 35 completions to move into first place on the APSU career list (504 by Jesse Kellogg from 2001-05). Ryan completed passes to nine different receivers with Devin Stark (70 yards, 1 TD), Reco Williams (67 yards, 1 TD) and Terrence Oliver (64 yards) each catching eight passes. The freshman Williams had a big game, catching those eight passes and also rushing for a team-high 73 yards. Oliver also had 50 rushing yards and 106 kickoff return yards to account for a game-high 220 all-purpose yards. Stark now has 58 catches on the season, the most by an APSU receiver since Lanis Frederick had 77 in the 2006 season. The Governors are looking to snap a 13-game Conference losing streak dating back to a win over Tennessee State last season.