CLARKSVILLE, Tenn.? Junior safety Kelvin Young picked off a Tennessee-Martin pass with 53 seconds left as Austin Peay State University won its first Ohio Valley Conference game since returning to scholarship football with a 17-14 win Saturday night at Governors Stadium in front of more than 6,000 homecoming fans.
The Governors, who returned to scholarship football a year ago and rejoined the OVC this season, are now 3-1 on the season and 1-1 in the OVC while the defrending OVC champs fall to 0-4 overall and 0-1 in league play. It was the Governors' first OVC win since 1996 when APSU also beat UTM, 55-24, to end that season. The Governors also are now 1-1 in Sgt. York Trophy games.
To go 3-1 for the first time since 1991 it took Young's interception of Dexter Anoka's pass at the APSU 38 after reserve Governors safety Jay Courtney tipped it. It stopped a Skyhawks drive that started from its own 22 and moved out to the UTM 45.
It capped a Govs' defensive half that saw UTM gain just 104 yards in the final 30 minutes. In fact, the Skyhawks totaled just 152 yards after going up 14-0 in the first quarter.
“Coach (Granville) Eastman did a great job of adjusting to Tennessee' Tech's game plan after the first quarter,” APSU coach Rick Christophel said. “First, we took away the running game, which made our job a lot easier as the game went on. I thought we needed to hold (Don) Chapman in check and made them throw the ball.
“I knew we had a chance to win if UT-Martin had to rely on the passing game.”
The Governors, meanwhile, overcame their own mistakes to finally score on a 43-yard field goal with 2:56 left in the first half to send the game into half at 14-3.
Then in the third quarter, freshman receiver Adrian Mines caught in the end zone a 21-yard picture-perfect pass from Mark Cunningham to finally score a touchdown. It cut the lead to 14-10 with 8:08 left in the period.
The Govs then methodically drove 71 yards in 12 plays, the final one coming on a Cunningham dive. It was the Govs' first lead and one they would not relinquish.
“I thought at the start of the third quarter our team adjusted and tried to be more aggressive. We needed to put the pressure on their defense and get them back on their heals. When UTM put nine guys in the box, we had to stretch the field and I thought Mark Cunningham did a great job of finding some receivers early in the second half, which forced their defense to make some changes.
“When that happened our offense did a better job of running the ball, which helped us the rest of the game.”
The Governors finished with 347 yards in total offense compared to 261 for UTM and held a 36:38 to 23:22 time-of-possession advantage.
Cunningham finished the day 14 of 24 for 175 yards, 103 coming in the second half. His favorite target, Lanis Frederick, had five catches for 91 yards.
Senior running back Chris Fletcher made it 10 straight games with 100 yards or more, finishing with 107 yards on 24 carries, but he fumbled twice. He did win a battle of the nation's top two active career rushing leaders, outgaining Martin's Don Chapman, who finished with just 46 yards.
- AP -
