BY COLLIN BROOKS

CORRESPONDENT

sports@elizabethton.com

JOHNSON CITY — A raucous crowd mingled with the victors on Thursday night, but for the second straight week, the words to the fight song were not claimed by the Bucs.

This time, they belonged to the Division III Maryville Scots who delivered ETSU their second loss in as many weeks when they topped ETSU 28-21 at Kermit Tipton Stadium.

“It was a tough loss,” ETSU coach Carl Torbush said. “We aren’t where we need to be in terms of giving ourselves the best chance to win.”

It was a painful loss for the Bucs, which was easy to see by the looks on the players and coaching staffs faces after the contest.

“It’s disappointing to loose period, it doesn’t matter if it’s Division II or Division III, a loss is a loss,” said ETSU running back Jajuan Stinson who led the team with 122 yards on 25 carries.

Ultimately the game came down to missed tackles, as the final scoring play for the Scots came off of missed tackles which allowed a short screen pass from Evan Pittenger to turn into a 35-yard touchdown that was finished by Trenton Schuler with 9:39 left in the contest.

That was Pittenger’s second passing touchdown of the night, as he finished 7 of 10 with 85 yards. He split time with junior Nick Myers who contributed 89 yards passing with a touchdown. Pittenger.

The run game for the Scots was led by Shuler who gained 107 yards on 25 carries with a touchdown.

“It’s a great feeling right now and I am so happy for those guys, they deserve this,” Maryville coach Shaun Hayes said. “ETSU is a quality opponent and they are going to be a really good football team, but it means a lot to us. It puts Maryville College back on the map where we want to be.”

“And I want the expectations of our kids and this program to be extremely high and I think we are getting there day-by-day,” he added.

ETSU had a chance to take the led in the contest with under eight minutes remaining in the third quarter as they sat just a yard outside of their end zone on fourth down. However, the Maryvillle defense stood tall and delivered the stop.

The Scots started their possession from inside of their own 2-yard line for the second time that quarter, but the Bucs were unable to take advantage of the situation.

“It’s a work in progress, like I told them tonight, we’ve had two opportunities that are gone, we have nine more opportunities left,” Torbush said. “And each and every week we will have a chance. It will just depend on how well we play.”

Despite ETSU pinning Maryville to their own second and first yard line during two separate drives the Bucs weren’t able to take advantage of the short yardage.

A fumble by Stinson on the just outside of the Bucs red zone which thwarted the Bucs first drive of the night.

Maryville took advantage of the situation as they were able to turn that turnover to points when running back Shuler found the end zone from 22 yards with 11:03 left in the first quarter.

ETSU answered with their next possession, going 77 yards in 12 plays, capping that drive off with a 10-yard rush by quarterback Austin Herink who bowled over a Scot tackler to tie the game at 7. Herink led the Bucs passing attack going 11 for 15 with 78 yards and a touchdown in the air. His counterpart, Nick Sexton, went 6 for 15 with an interception and 71 yards. He also fumbled the ball on the Bucs final possession of the night.

The Bucs were the next team that was able to capitalize when Tavian Lott grabbed an interception during a streaking battled up the middle of the field. His team capitalized on the good fortune, as Herink found Demetrius Anthony for a 17-yard pass in the back of the end zone.

But Maryville would go down. With 11:13 remaining in the second quarter Ben Buell hauled in a 7-yard pass from Nick Myers, which capped off a 15 play, 75yard drive for the Scots and tied the game at 14. Just three minutes later, Maryville took the lead as Logan Winders out jumped his opponents to grab a 5-yard touchdown pass.

The Scots played with the lead for the rest of the first half until ETSU went 75 yards in 1:50, that was highlighted by the 20-yard touchdown toss from Sexton to Dalton Ponchillia with 32 seconds remaining in the half.

Overall ETSU finished the contest with 27 first downs, to the visiting teams 18. They also outgained the Scots 416 to 353 in total yardage, but none of that was enough to gain the victory.

“I told them they don’t need to feel sorry for themselves, this is part of the growing pains to get us where we need to be as a football team, this is part of the maturity process,” Torbush said. “They need to hurt, they need to be a little sad, and they need to be frustrated to realize that we’ve got to play up to the best of our ability every week, or we don’t have a chance.”