By Collin Brooks

Senior Day will be one to remember for a 27 Buccaneers, as many of the seniors and red-shirt juniors that are graduating scored a 24-6 win over VMI in their final game at William B. Greene Jr. Stadium on Saturday.
ETSU Coach Carl Torbush said he was proud of the players that were honored before the contest for delivering a victory to the home crowd during their final performance.
“I’m very proud of that group of young men that we honored prior to the game,” Torbush said. “These guys stayed through the thick and the thin for the last four years, and they have a reference in me for the rest of their lives. We probably have more seniors than I would really like to have right now, but they are all in position to graduate and that is the most important thing.”
The group received a rambunctious post-game speech from ETSU President Dr. Brian Noland and ETSU Athletic Director Scott Carter. But the thought wasn’t lost that the season is far from over, with the Bucs having two more games on the road with hopes of finishing with a winning season.
“I thought it was a tough ball game. VMI is a tough football team,” Torbush said. “They have a great football coach, and it was a great win for us. We needed a win like this. We put ourselves in position to go to Samford to keep our goal of finishing with a winning season alive.”
The Bucs jumped on VMI in the first quarter, after J.J. Jerman connected on a 33-yard field goal. The next score came when defensive end Nasir Player snagged a tipped ball from the air and galloped the 12 yards to score a touchdown.
“When I saw the ball in the air, I was just like don’t drop it and again after (I caught it), don’t drop it,” said Player. “I also thought I couldn’t get tackled because I caught an interception when I was in high school and I got tackled on the two-yard line, so I couldn’t let happen again.”
Player was tackled by a swarm of teammates from the field and bench, which resulted in a 15-yard penalty. Player said he thought he should have celebrated a little bit more since that was the final result.
“It seemed like everyone was a lot more excited than I was because I was just standing there and then next thing I know, everyone was running at me,” Player said. “I tried to run off the field, but then everyone came and tackled me, so that was fun. It was a good moment.”
VMI answered the score in the second quarter with a 20-yard field goal. They added their final field goal of the contest with 12:05 remaining in the third quarter to make the score 10-6 in ETSU’s favor.
The Bucs added to their lead after an 11-play drive that relied on nine rushes from the Bucs’ ground game as Falon Lee punched in a 1-yard score with 43 seconds left in the third quarter. ETSU’s final score came from Jajuan Stinson, who delivered his 16th rushing touchdown of his career.
ETSU will travel to Samford for a 3 p.m. kick-off with the nationally-ranked Bulldogs. The Bucs wrap up the season the following week with a contest at Chattanooga.