By Alex Boggis, UT Martin Assistant Sports Information Director
MARTIN, Tenn. – The No. 25 ranked University of Tennessee at Martin football squad recorded a piece of history on Saturday by becoming the first team in program history to win back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference championships following a 34-31 victory over Eastern Illinois.
The Skyhawks finish the regular season with a 7-4 overall record while powering towards the program’s first unbeaten league schedule since it became a four-year institution. The win secured the program’s second straight OVC championship while serving as co-championship with Southeast Missouri (9-2, 5-0 OVC) who also went unbeaten. In total, UT Martin has now won OVC league titles in 2006, 2021 and 2022.
Following the game, the OVC Commissioner – while being spectated by representatives from both UT Martin and Southeast Missouri – conducted a coin flip to determine the NCAA Division I Championships automatic qualifier. While UT Martin won the right to call the flip, the coin came up heads resulting in Southeast Missouri earning the league’s automatic playoff berth. The Skyhawks will hope to see their name called as an at-large selection in tomorrow’s FCS Championship Selection Show.
“I’m very proud of this,” UT Martin head coach Jason Simpson said. “There is a lot of time spent and work that goes into this. I appreciate our fans and supporters who are here with us, our administrative staff, our Athletic Director Kurt McGuffin and our Chancellor Keith Carver. Most importantly, I appreciate this coaching staff and our kids. This is back-to-back and these kids have an opportunity to put another ring on their finger. I’m really proud of that. I just want to thank everyone for their support. We have come a long way to now be able to win three championships, and we probably could have won a few more, but I’m so appreciative of this community. We are blessed to live here.”
Along with the championship, the Skyhawks saw some individuals cap off historic seasons. Prior to the contest, UT Martin recognized its senior class as they were surrounded by family and friends. One of those Skyhawks playing his final game at Hardy Graham Stadium was Colton Dowell who added yet another personal achievement to his decorated career. After entering the game with 918 receiving yards for the season, Dowell notched his 12th career 100-yard receiving game with 118 yards to bring his 2022 yardage total up to 1,036 yards – becoming just the fourth player in program history to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards in a single season.
The Skyhawks had another playmaker also eclipse 1,000 yards for the season today as Zak Wallace joined an exclusive club. While already ranking as one of the program’s top running backs in his redshirt-sophomore season, Wallace became just the eighth individual in UT Martin history to rush for at least 1,000 yards in a season – finishing the regular season with 1,012 yards.
Another standout potentially took his final snap as a Skyhawk with quarterback Dresser Winn completing 17-of-28 passes for 227 yards and two total touchdowns (one passing and one rushing). Winn found Dowell for a 52-yard touchdown in the second quarter while using a quarterback keeper to scramble three yards for a touchdown. If this marks the final contest for Winn, he finishes his career with 5,800 passing yards, 5,964 yards of total offense and 37 passing touchdowns – each of which rank fifth in program history.
Defensively, the linebacker duo of Rob Hicks and John H. Ford II put on yet another clinic in Saturday’s contest. The duo both finished in double figures in the tackle column with Ford leading all players with 11 stops while Hicks wasn’t far behind with 10. The tandem each finished the year over the century mark for tackles with Hicks leading the league with 113 while Ford ranks third in the OVC with 106. This marks the first time that the Skyhawks have had two players finish over 100 tackles in the same season since 2004 when Markeseo Jackson (116) and Russell Gambrell (101) combined for 217.
The Skyhawks played with a high motor on the defensive side as the squad forced four fumbles – recovering two – while also adding to their OVC lead with two more interceptions. The group of Ford, TJ Neal, Daylan Dotson and Chris Hunter each tallied forced fumbles while defensive tackle Jay Rogers recovered a pair of loose balls. Meanwhile, Tyler Gore registered his second interception of the season while Neal also sealed the game with a later interception of his own.
The squad also kept EIU out of the pocket with 13 hurries while tallying nine tackles for loss and four sacks. Dotson paced the squad with 3.0 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks to add to his OVC lead in both categories. Sophomore cornerback Oshae Baker also tallied two tackles for loss to go along with a pair of pass breakups.
UT Martin would jump out to an early lead in the contest with a 78-yard scoring drive on the team’s first possession of the contest. On the eighth play of the opening drive, Sam Franklin punched in his eighth rushing touchdown of the season on a four-yard carry. The lead was short-lived however as Eastern Illinois scored just two plays later as Dom Shoffner found Jaelin Benefield for an 84-yard touchdown connection to tie the contest up.
Much like EIU’s scoring drive to tie up the contest on the previous drive, UT Martin responded in similar fashion. Winn hit receiver EJ Smoot for a 74-yard connection on the team’s first play of the drive before Wallace found the end zone for the 16th time this season – tying legendary running back Don Chapman for second in the program’s single-season history.
Eastern Illinois responded to the big play with a lengthy drive of its own – capped off by a field goal from Stone Galloway to cut the margin down to four before later taking its lone lead of the contest on the next possession off a 63-yard touchdown from Shoffner to Justin Bowick.
With the Skyhawks facing a three-point deficit after one quarter of play, the squad struck back midway through the second to retake an advantage it would relinquish. Following a quick three-and-out in the second quarter, UT Martin took advantage of great field position as Winn hit Dowell for a 52-yard touchdown – giving UT Martin a 21-17 lead which it took into halftime.
The third quarter saw both teams put points on the board. Tyler Larco went to work for the Skyhawks by nailing a pair of field goals from 34 and 27 yards, respectively, to take a 10-point lead. The Panthers later answered with another deep touchdown strike from Shoffner to Bowick to cut the deficit back down to three.
Each team exchanged rushing touchdowns by their quarterbacks in the fourth quarter. Winn got on the board with a two-yard rush early in the period to take a 10-point lead before Shoffner came right back with a two-yard carry of his own to trim the margin down to three once again.
As both teams exchanged punts back-and-forth in the fourth quarter, it was UT Martin which found the ultimate stop late in the contest. With the Panthers trailing by three with 1:25 to go in the contest, the team found a quick first down before later seeing their comeback hopes spoiled on an interception by Neal to put the game away and secure the league championship for the Skyhawks.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information