THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee Tech 42, North Greenville 14
TENNESSEE TECH 42, NORTH GREENVILLE 14
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech Golden Eagle football team rolled to its second consecutive win Thursday evening, defeating the North Greenville Crusaders 42-14. The win earned the Golden Eagles a spot atop every other Division I football program as the only 2-0 team in the nation.
The Golden Eagle attack was led by a pair of familiar faces in senior quarterback Tre Lamb and senior running back Adam Urbano. Tech piled up over 450 yards for the second straight week, with 122 contributed by Urbano on the ground and 274 from Lamb through the air.
Urbano tallied his second straight 100-yard contest, rushing for 122 yards and two scores on just 14 carries for a 8.7 yards-per-carry average. The game marked his first career two-touchdown game as a Golden Eagle to give him a team-high three rushing touchdowns on the season.
Tre Lamb achieved an impressive career milestone on the nights, becoming just the fifth Golden Eagle to pass for over 4,000 yards in a career. The senior now sits fifth on the Tennessee Tech all-time lists for both passing yards and total offense. Lamb completed 18 of 26 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns. The three scores throught the air marked the first time Lamb put together back-to-back three touchdown performances.
Junior receiver Da'Rick Rogers came up huge in the passing game in the first half, grabbing 5 balls for 88 yards and a touchdown. The performance outweighed last week's numbers that earned him OVC co-Newcomer of the Week.
Freshman receiver Jordan Smith got things started, nabbing his first career touchdown off a 62-yard bomb from Tre Lamb. It was just the second catch of Smith's career as he finished with 68 receiving yards.
Adding his second touchdown reception of the season was junior receiver Ryan Tilghman, snaring a 32-yard pass from Lamb. He wrapped up the evening with three receptions and 49 yards receiving.
Local Cookeville talents, senior defensive back Taylor Hennigan and sophomore running back Stephen Bush, both made their prescences felt tonight. Bush had a career-day, rushing for 65 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.
Hennigan, who recorded a career-high nine tackles, also scooped up a fumble and returned it 15 yards to set up a key Golden Eagle score right before halftime. The touchdown gave the Golden Eagles a two-score lead going into halftime and was ultimately the turning point in the game for Tech. The offense didn't look back as it scored midway through the third quarter to open up a 28-7 lead.
The Golden Eagle defense had a slew of solid performers while holding the Crusaders to just 14 points. Senior defensive back Will Johnson led the team with 13 tackles and added the forced fumble that was picked up by Hennigan. Sophomore d-back Austin Tallant picked up 11 total tackles and fellow sophomore linebacker Tra'Darius Goff added 10 stops of his own.
Tech forced three turnovers in the contest, including the fumble and two interceptions. Both freshman defensive back William Dillard and sophomore defensive back Cory Webber recorded their first career picks in the game.