Chattanooga Runs for 295 and Buries Western Carolina
Fifty-three carries for 295 yards. Chattanooga threw for 103 and did not care, because the ground game was plenty on its way to a 41-18 win over Western Carolina.
It did not look like a rout early. Western Carolina kicked a field goal first, Chattanooga answered with a Journey Wyche touchdown run, and then AJ Colombo took a punt back 86 yards to put the home team up 10-7. Jude Kelley's 57-yard field goal with six seconds left in the half made it 10-10, and a Battle Alberson 19-yard run early in the third made it 17-10. Chattanooga held that lead into the fourth.
Then came the avalanche. A Kelley field goal, a one-yard Kevin Lalin touchdown and a four-yard Alberson score made it 34-10 with 6:40 left. That is 17 straight points in the fourth quarter, and 24 unanswered since the 10-10 tie. Western Carolina did get a Lex Thomas to Santana Carlos touchdown and a two-point conversion to close it to 34-18, and Lalin answered 14 seconds later with a 37-yard run. That was the whole story. Flip nothing, there is nothing to flip.
Western Carolina actually out-passed everybody, 284 yards to 103, but threw two interceptions, took no help from a rushing game that managed 76 yards on 23 carries, and sits at 3-4. Chattanooga, with no turnovers and no fumbles lost, moves to 5-3.
Fantasy-wise, this was a running back's afternoon, and a quarterback who barely threw it. Lalin ran for 135 and two scores, Alberson scored twice on the ground off 11 carries, and Carlos got a rare big day on the other side.