COOKEVILLE, Tenn.?Freshman Isaac Ziolkowski kicked a 29-yard field goal with 1.4 seconds remaining to lift Austin Peay State University to a 30-27 Ohio Valley Conference victory against Tennessee Tech, Saturday afternoon, in Tucker Stadium.
The victory pushes Austin Peay to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the OVC. It also put the Govs at 2-1 in Sgt. York Trophy games. The loss spoiled Tennessee Tech's homecoming as the Golden Eagles fall to 4-2 overall and 2-2 in the OVC.
The winning kick proved to be redemption for Kiolkowski, who missed a field and extra point earlier and had an extra-point attempt blocked. However, the freshman stepped to the forefront, failing to allow Tennessee Tech's freezing attempt to faze him. With the ball at the Tech 11, twice Ziolkowski lined up his kick only to have the Golden Eagles call time out. He then booted the ball straight through the uprights to provide the victory margin in a game that saw two longtime coaching associates, APSU's Rick Christophel and Tennessee Tech's Watson Brown, meet as opposing head coaches for the first time. Christophel spent 23 as an assistant to Brown at several stops.
The winning drive was set up by a fumble forced by APSU sophomore linebacker Chris Haynes and recovered by Josh Hackett at the Tennessee Tech 45 with 3:02 left.
Gary Orr then handed off four straight times to Chris Fletcher, who took the ball down to the Tech 17. Fletcher, who saw his streak of 100-yard games end at 10 at Gardner-Webb, finished with a season-high 147 yards on 30 carries, outdueling the OVC's top rusher, Derek White, who had 95 yards on 20 attempts.
Otis Spivey then carried it to the Tech 11 as time ticked all the way down to 5.2 seconds before APSU called time out to set up the winning attempt.
The Govs' victory was an improbable one, considering how the game started. In fact, APSU played much of the first half seeming on its heels. The Golden Eagles rolled up 147 first-period yards compared to a paltry 42 for the Govs.
On the Golden Eagles' first possession, the Governors put pressure on quarterback Josh Lowery and free safety Tremayne Townsed stepped in to pick off a pass near midfield and returned inside the Tech 25-yard line. The Govs fell short of achieving a first down but the Govs' Ziolkowski shanked a 34-yard field-goal attempt.
Both teams' defenses kept the other at bay until late in the period when Tennessee Tech used an eight-play 92-yard drive to take a 7-0 lead when White ran 11 yards for the score with 3:19 left in the period.
Early in the second quarter, Tennessee Tech was back on the march, starting from its own 30-yard line and driving inside the Govs five-yard line. But the Govs dropped White for a long loss and forced a Tech field goal that Justin Kraemer nailed from 30 yards out, making it a 10-0 contest. It was his seventh straight field goal without a miss.
The Governors finally got on the scoreboard, utilizing a strong Terrence Holt kickoff return to set up an impressive drive engineered, as planned, by third-string quarterback Gary Orr, who completed a pair of third-down passes, including a 40-yard TD strike to Lanis Frederick. Ziolkoswski missed the extra point to make it a 10-6 game. Orr, however, energized the Govs' offensive attack as freshman Trent Caffee, starting his first game in place of injured Mark Cunningham, could not get untracked.
However,Larry Shipp then took over, returning the ensuing kickoff 44 yards to the APSU 40. On the first play Shipp ran a reserve all the way for a score to make it a 17-6 game.
But the Govs came right back before halftime, taking advantage of the Tennessee Tech fumble (recovered by freshman linebacker Ricky Thomas). On a fourth-down play at the APSU 47, Orr hit redshirt freshman Jack Hoeh for a 21-yard gain. The Govs then drove it to the TTU 16 before Orr connected with freshman Adrian Mines on a perfect end-zone pass over the outstretched hands of both the cornerback and free safety. That cut the Govs' deficit to 17-12 as APSU missed the two-point conversion. That was the score heading into halftime.
However, the Govs took the second half kickoff, driving 69 yards on 10 plays, highlighted by Chris Fletcher's 34-yard run to the one-yard line. Two plays later, Orr punched it in to give APSU an 18-17 lead. The two-point conversion again failed.
But Tennessee Tech came storming back, driving 70 yards in 12 plays, capped by reserve quarterback Cass Barnes' three-yard go-ahead score to put the Golden Eagles, with the extra point, back up 24-18.
The Govs then drove 46 yards in 10 plays, culminated by a 36-yard Ziolkowski field goal, cutting the margin down to 24-21.
The Govs then marched 78 yards to regain the lead. Fletcher went over the 100-yard mark for the 25th time with a first-down run that got the Govs deep out of their territory. Orr found Frederick and Mines with some key passes during the drive and it was ended when Terrence Holt, out of the running back position, went 12 yards for the score. Again the Govs kicking game troubles proved costly as Ziolkowski's point-after was blocked by Taryon Ryce, keeping it a three-point game.
However, Tennessee Tech, buoyed by a long Henry Sailes kickoff answered with a Kraemer field goal, tying it with a little more than seven minutes remaining.
Orr finished 12 of 16 passing for 177 yards and two TDs. Mines led the Govs with six catches for 72 yards while Frederick had four for 86 yards.
Defensively, Kevis Buckley led the Govs with 10 tackles, including eight solos, while Kelvin Young and Nick Clark added seven apiece. End Chris Newell, playing his career's best game, was credited with 1.5 tackles for loss.
Tech quarterback Josh Lowery completed 11 of 17 passes for 170 before leaving the game with a broken hand in the third quarter. His backup, Cass Barnes, failed to complete a pass but did finish with 60 yards rushing, including a TD.
Broderick Jamison had 17 stops for the Tech defense. However, the Golden Eagles failed to force a turnover while the Govs produced three.
-AP-
