UTC’s big margin unchanged after long delay
The only thing that could have stopped the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team Thursday night was the weather.
It certainly tried.
The Mocs and Tennessee Tech waited through a 2-hour, 49-minute delay due to lightning and heavy rain before playing the last 10 minutes, 25 seconds of game time at Finley Stadium. The game was halted at 9:45 p.m. with UTC firmly in control, 34-10, having rung up 427 yards of total offense at more than 8 yards per play, while the defense had held the Golden Eagles to 251 yards at that point.
Per Southern Conference rules, when a football game is suspended by the referee before the end of the fourth period and cannot be resumed, there are four possible options: The teams can resume the game at a later date, the game can be terminated with a determined final score, it can be declared a no-contest or it can be declared a forfeit.
As the delay continued, UTC was ready to terminate the game at that point, with so little time remaining and the outcome seemingly decided, but Tennessee Tech coach
“I had one other one in 2015 — had lightning delays four or five times on and off — but I never had to sit in the locker room for three hours before coming back out.”
— UTC COACH TOM ARTH
Dewayne Alexander refused. So the teams waited.
With 10:25 left on the clock when the game was suspended, UTC’s players tried to remain focused, but on multiple occasions the game would get a restart time, only to be pushed back due to a bolt of lightning. Each strike forced a new 30-minute delay.
Little Caesar’s Pizza was brought into the locker room for the Mocs in the meantime.
Some players lay around, while others stood in the area between the two locker rooms with Tennessee Tech players and watched the storms. UTC defensive tackle Derek Mahaffey admitted he took “around a 10-minute nap” during the stoppage.
“I had one other one in 2015 — had lightning delays four or five times on and off — but I never had to sit in the locker room for three hours before coming back out,” second-year UTC head coach Tom Arth said.
The Golden Eagles were moving the ball at the time of the delay. Backup quarterback Luke Ward had just completed a 44-yard pass to Jeremi Edwards into UTC territory, but that drive stalled when play finally resumed. The Golden Eagles then moved the ball again on their next possession, taking the ball to the 2-yard line, but the Mocs defense locked in and forced a second consecutive turnover on downs.
“That shows we don’t quit. We don’t give up, no matter the circumstances,” said Mahaffey, who had a team-high nine tackles. “You’ve got to think the scoreboard is 0-0. I think we wanted it more right there, and that’s what that shows.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress. com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.