September 25, 2011

Gay, Forbes harvest weekly awards from Ohio Valley Conference

Dontey Gay was named the Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Week and Cody Forbes earned co-Special Teams Player of the Week for their efforts in Tennessee Tech's 38-31 win over Southeast Missouri Saturday night.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Senior Dontey Gay was named the Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Week, while sophomore Cody Forbes earned OVC co-Special Teams Player of the Week honors for their efforts in Saturday's 38-31 victory over Southeast Missouri.

Gay became the first player in Tech history to account for 100 or more yards rushing and receiving in the same game. The senior from Lexington, Ky., carried the ball 22 times for 146 yards and two touchdowns and caught seven passes for 101 yards. Overall Gay had 247 all-purpose yards on 29 touches (the second-highest total in the OVC this season). His four-yard touchdown run with 2:38 to play proved to be the game-winner for the Golden Eagles over the defending OVC champion Redhawks.

Gay has now rushed at least 100 yards in three games this season, and leads the OVC in rushing with 126.2 yards per game. He also tops the league in scoring with seven touchdowns in four games.

Forbes shared the Special Teams PoW award with Jacksonville State punter Coty Blanchard. The sophomore from Elizabethton, Tenn., accounted for a career-best 132 all-purpose yards as Tech topped remained undefeated (2-0) in OVC play. Forbes got 98 of his yards on three kickoff returns, including two crucial ones for the Golden Eagles.

After Southeast Missouri had tied the game late in the first half, Forbes returned the ensuing kickoff 38 yards to the TTU 41-yard line to set up a short scoring drive that gave Tech a 17-10 halftime advantage. With five minutes to play and the score tied, Forbes had a 36-yard return to the TTU 47-yard line, setting up the team’s eight-play, 53-yard game-winning touchdown drive. Forbes also had six rushes for 22 yards and caught two passes for 12 yards.

The Defensive Player of the Week award went to Antwaun Majors of Austin Peay, while the Newcomer of the Week honor went to Washaun Ealey of Jacksonville State, who narrowly edged out Tech freshman Austin Tallant in the voting for the award.

The Golden Eagles will travel to West Tennessee for their next contest, meeting UT Martin Saturday (Oct. 1) at 6:30 p.m. Tech's next home game isn't for three weeks, when Tennessee State visits Tucker Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 15, for a 7 p.m. tilt.