GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Freshman quarterback Tre Simmons passed for a season-high 362 yards and three touchdowns as the Tusculum Pioneers beat arch-rival Carson-Newman 48-13 Saturday afternoon in the South Atlantic Conference season-finale at Pioneer Field.
Simmons went 22-of-35 passing and also rushed for 32 yards and a touchdown as the Pioneers racked up 516 offensive yards in the 50th recorded meeting in the second oldest football rivalry in the State of Tennessee (1904).
The Tusculum defense limited the Eagles (1-9, 1-7 SAC) to 166 yards on the day while recording six sacks and forced four fumbles, which were all recovered by the Pioneers. The four fumble recoveries are tied for the third-most in a TU game and first since its four fumbles collected against the College of Faith in 2013.
Senior defensive lineman Ryan McIntyre led the charge with six tackles including three for loss, two sacks and a fumble recovery. Senior defensive end Widchard Guervil made three tackles behind the line of scrimmage including two sacks and forced a pair of fumbles as TU scored 20 points off of C-N miscues.
The TU defense limited the Eagles to 99 rushing yards as a team including nine yards by the reigning SAC Player of the Week Troy Dendy, who ran for a career-best 265 yards last week against Limestone.
TU's Derrick Wright accounted for six receptions for a career-high 150 yards and two touchdowns as eight different Pioneers recorded a reception.
Senior running back Maurice Gomillion achieved a personal milestone as he became the 13th player in school history to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards in a career. He tallied 47 yards on Saturday including a three-yard touchdown to put the Pioneers on the scoreboard and spark a 21-0 start to the game.
The 35-point winning margin is the second largest by the Pioneers in the history of the series, only surpassed by the TU's 103-0 rout of C-N in the 1919 meeting.
The Eagles went three plays and out on its first four possessions resulting in three punts and a fumble. C-N would not convert a first down until the second quarter.
Tusculum went 10 plays and 75 yards on its first possession which was hightlight by a 21-yard completion from Simmons to Justice Parham to the C-N 33. Simmons later found Wright on a 16-yard pass and the drive would be capped off by Gomillion's three-yard plunge into the end zone. John-Aiden Pittman's extra point made it 7-0 TU at the 9:26 mark of the first quarter.
The Pioneers would recover an on-side kick when senior Markel Clark came up with the football at the C-N 46. But the drive would stall at the 37 when Simmons was sacked for by Rondrow Peebles on fourth down.
Late in the period, punter Michael Harrah took the low snap which he booted off the ground and was penalized 10-yards for illegal kicking as TU took over at the C-N 41. Six plays later, Simmons completed a 21-yard strike to a diving Bryce Moore who made an over-the-shoulder catch into the right corner of the end zone for the touchdown to make it a 14-0 lead for the Pioneers with 12:10 left before halftime.
Carson-Newman recovered another on-side kick, this time at midfield. C-N quarterback Lamarcus Brown would fumble in the backfield when he was hit by Guervil and the loose ball was recovered by TU linebacker Craig Watts at the TU 46.
Simmons hooked up with Parham again for a 13-yard completion, Simmons scrambled for a 19-yard gain and followed with a 13-yard pass to Moore to move to the C-N 11. The Pioneers would be called for a holding penalty, but an 11-yard completion to Gomillion put TU back in business at the C-N 7. Simmons ran for four yards to the C-N 3 to set up fourth-down and two from there. Senior Darion Anderson converted the fourth down try and was stopped at the one. He ran it in from there as the Pioneers extended their lead to 21-0 with 6:07 remaining in the half.
A roughing the passer penalty on the series' first play gave C-N its initial first down of the afternoon to midfield. Brown compelted a 17-yard pass to JJ Lewis and Elijah Davis posted runs of 16 and 6 yards to move to the TU 7. Mister Hogue ran the next two plays and got it to the one-yard line. Brown would be stopped on second down, but punched it on the next play. Blaine Cook's kick made it a 21-7 TU lead with 1:56 remaining.
The Pioneers, who exhausted their timeouts earlier in the half, went to the hurry-up offense and Simmons opened with a 20-yard pass to Sweeper and completions of 10 and 6 yards to Wright as the Pioneers got to midfield. A 12-yard pass to Justice Parham and later an 11-yard toss to Cortney Jackson put the ball at the C-N 29. Pittman came on and attempted the 46-yard field goal and his kick was on-line but just went under the cross bar on the half's final play.
Tusculum moved its opening possession of the second half into C-N territory. But on fourth-down from the C-N 27, Simmons pass to Gomillion was incomplete as the Eagles took over on downs.
Carson-Newman would commit its third turnover of the day when Hogue was hit by Raynell Killian to jar the ball free and was recovered by McIntyre at the C-N 43.
Simmons completed a 22-yard pass to Jackson and later a nine-yard toss to Aaron Fudge to the C-N 5. Simmons would run it in for a three-yard score. The extra point try was off target as the Pioneers led 27-7 with 7:52 left in the third quarter.
Later in the period after a C-N punt, Simmons aired it out on the first play and completed a 54-yard touchdown pass to Wright for the touchdown with 31 seconds left in the third as the Pioneers extended the lead to 34-7.
On the first play of C-N next possession, the Eagles fumbled at midfield as Billy Weekley forced the turnover and Watts recovered the ball at the TU 48. The Pioneers would come up empty on this chance, turning the ball over on downs near midfield.
The Pioneers would gather in its fourth fumble with 11:23 left in the game as Brown was hit in the backfield by Guervil and TU's Delonte Jones made the recovery at the TU 42. A sack and a false start penalty had the Pioneers going backwards. But on third-and-long, Simmons hauled a pass deep into the C-N secondary as Wright tipped the ball and caught the deflection between two Eagles and galloped into the end zone for his second touchdown catch of the day and fourth of the season for a 41-7 TU lead.
Carson-Newman answered with an eight-play, 65-yard drive which was culminated by an 18-yard run down the sideline by Brown for the touchdown with 6:29 remaining.
But on the ensuing kickoff, Tyler Burke took the ball at the goal line and went 100 yards for the touchdown to cap the scoring. It tied the TU school record for longest kickoff return, which was set by Jarvis Jones last month in the Wingate game.
The Pioneers recorded 27 first downs while holding the Eagles to 10 on the day. TU went 9-of-16 on its third-down conversions, while C-N went 4-of-13.
TU punter Andrew Cantrell averaged 48.5 yards on his two punts which both were downed inside the 2-yard line including his final kick of the year which was downed at the C-N 3. His 18 punts inside-the-20 this year are tied for the fourth most in a season at Tusculum, giving him 58 for his career (3rd in TU history).
The Pioneers have won the last three home meetings against the Eagles, a first since posting three straight in 1916, 1918 and 1919.
