Chattanooga Beats Samford 19-3 on One Touchdown and Four Field Goals
Chattanooga scored one touchdown and four field goals, and that was plenty. The final was 19-3.
The Mocs got the only touchdown of the game early, Journey Wyche scoring from a yard out with 3:34 left in the first quarter to make it 7-0. After that it was the kicker's show. Jude Kelley hit from 46 yards with 12:02 left in the second, then from 39 at 5:19, and it was 13-0. Samford's Ty Ippolito answered with a 46-yarder with three seconds left in the half, the only points Samford scored all day, to make it 13-3. Kelley added a 38-yard kick in the third quarter and a 45-yard kick with 5:52 left in the fourth. Chattanooga never trailed and nobody was ever tied. Kelley accounted for 13 of the 19 points on four field goals and an extra point.
The box score says this was a pure grind. Chattanooga threw for 55 yards total and ran 55 times for 208, which is a team that decided what it was and stuck with it. That is 263 yards, 79 percent of them on the ground, and a quarterback who barely had to throw. Samford had 137 total yards on 21 carries for 20 yards and 117 passing, with one interception and a lost fumble. Chattanooga had no turnovers.
Take away Kelley and this is a 6-3 game, which is a different conversation. Chattanooga improves to 4-3 and Samford sinks to 1-4. For fantasy, this was a workhorse game: Kevin Lalin carried 28 times for 156 yards and Wyche 20 times for 57 and the touchdown.