The ETSU football team used an outstanding performance by its defense and connected enough plays in the other two phases of the game to power past VMI on Saturday afternoon, 45-10. ETSU improves to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in SoCon play after Saturday’s victory over the Keydets.
Saturday’s clash began with ETSU winning the contest for the sixth time in its seventh game of the season. After deferring until the second half, the Buccaneer defense forced its first of quite a few three-and-outs to start the day, forcing VMI to punt. Xavier Gaillardetz hauled in VMI’s punt at the ETSU 20-yard line and brought it back for an 80-yard touchdown. It was his first career punt return touchdown and the first by an ETSU player since 2018 (Quay Holmes vs. VMI – 69 yards).
Neither team did much else through the rest of the first quarter. ETSU received a sudden jolt of momentum as Brian Alston forced a fumble and Teddy Wilson pounced on it to give the Bucs a possession on VMI’s 22-yard line. Izay Bridges had a 12-yard run to start the drive before Devontae Houston ran it into the end zone from 10 yards out to begin the second quarter and make the score 14-0 ETSU.
As the second quarter wore on, the Bucs got another takeaway as Ty Anderson intercepted a pass. While the ETSU offense did not punch it across for a touchdown, Ewan Johnson connected on a 33-yard field goal to grow the ETSU lead to 17-0.
The Bucs would add to their lead after a poor 20-yard punt by VMI gave ETSU a drive that started at the Keydet 40-yard line. A pair of runs by Khalil Eichelberger and a pass interference call set up a 17-yard touchdown pass from Jake McNamara to Jeremiah Harrison. For McNamara, it was his first collegiate touchdown pass. The 24-0 lead was the score as the two teams broke to the locker room for halftime.
The third quarter was one of ETSU’s most dominant of the season in terms of yardage difference. The Bucs outgained VMI 232-10 in the third. McNamara found Ephraim Floyd on a 12-yard touchdown pass to extend the ETSU lead to 31-0. VMI, however, got on the board as a pass from McNamara was intercepted and returned for a touchdown.
ETSU promptly answered with big plays by Harrison (42-yard pass) and Jason Albritton (21-yard rush) to put the Bucs back in the red zone. Albritton, who accounted for 33 of the team’s 75 yards on the drive, would find the end zone for the fourth time this season to push the ETSU lead back to 31, 38-7.
With a commanding lead, the Bucs dominated the time of possession in the fourth quarter. ETSU held the ball for over nine minutes (9:08) of the final 15 minutes of play. Ben Shrewsbury, a native of nearby Jonesborough, Tennessee, connected on a 52-yard field goal to make it 38-10. ETSU had one more score in it before the game ended as freshman Jackson Byrd ran for his first career touchdown from 20 yards out to put an exclamation point on the day for the Bucs.
