Charleston Southern battled #7/10 Tennessee Tech on Saturday afternoon under rainy conditions to a final score of 27-13, keeping one of the nation’s best squads to the closest contest they have had of the year.
The Buccaneers had the opening possession for the game and went three-and-out which was followed by Tennessee Tech using a seven play, 40-yard drive to score the first points of the day with Kekoa Visperas finding Maury Sullivan from two yards out for a touchdown. Charleston Southern immediately answered back with a scoring drive of their own, booting through a 37-yard field goal to cap off the 12- play, 56-yard drive.
The Golden Eagles threw an interception to Justin Waters on their next possession and following the Buccaneer punt, Tennessee Tech found the end zone for the second time of the day to push their lead to 14-10.
Charleston Southern responded immediately after their score, tallying their first touchdown of the day with Zolten Osborne finding Rashawn Cunningham in the left corner of the endzone from seven yards out. This capped off the longest drive of the year in terms of plays and time for the Bucs as they went for 70 yards off 20 plays in 9:51 to cut it to 14-10. The Golden Eagles were able to find the endzone once more before the break but missed the PAT to move the score to 20-10 going into the halftime break.
Tennessee Tech continued to build on their lead in the second half scoring the first of the teams in the frame. A 16-yard rushing touchdown capped off that scoring drive and pushed the scoreline to 27-10.
Near the end of the fourth, the Buccaneers collected their first points of the half with Gordon booting through a 24-yard field goal. Lek Powell led them on a 13 play, 73-yard drive to get on the board.
All three quarterbacks saw action in the game with Osborne getting the start and finishing 11-24 through the air for a touchdown and 80 yards. Powell had three completions for 61 yards while Jared Echols also had a completion for five yards.
Ke’Marion Baldwin took 17 carries for 41 yards against the tough Golden Eagles defense. Hakeem Watters had four carries for 17 yards. Nebanye Moore was the leading receiver with five catches for 57 yards while Kevin Boone added two for 48 yards.
Malik McKinzie had the lone sack of the day for the Bucs and finished with two TFLs. Josiah Wyatt, and Waters each had a solo TFL on the day as well. As a team, Waters and Anthony Paulk each had an interception while McKinzie and Paulk each forced a fumble with Josias Addison recovering one.
Charleston Southern will be back in action next weekend with a trip up to Macomb, Illinois with the Buccaneers to take on Western Illinois. The kickoff is set for 4 p.m. EST on Saturday, October 18.