A swarming defensive unit set the tone Saturday for the University of Tennessee at Martin football squad as the Skyhawks piled up 27 unanswered second-half points in a 37-21 nonconference victory at North Alabama.
UT Martin (3-1) rolled to its third straight win after mounting a memorable comeback in the final 30 minutes. Trailing 21-7 at the halftime break, the Skyhawk defense limited the host Lions to only 160 yards of total offense on 48 plays from that point forward – keeping North Alabama off the scoreboard in the process.
Meanwhile, the UT Martin offense dialed up four touchdowns in the final 19:46 to seize momentum and silence the crowd of 8,836 fans in Braly Municipal Stadium. Zoe Roberts caught the go-ahead touchdown with 1:53 remaining in the third quarter before Sam Franklin iced the game with scoring runs of 74 and 43 yards in the fourth stanza.
“We figured out a way to win,” Skyhawk head coach Jason Simpson said. “I’m proud of our defense – I challenged them at halftime and they responded in a big way. We have a lot of things to clean up but for us to go on the road and get a victory against another quality opponent is huge. Our schedule has allowed us to be battle-tested and has prepared us to get into conference play.”
UT Martin returns to Hardy Graham Stadium next Saturday to open Big South-OVC Football Association play against in-state rival Tennessee State. You can hear the “Hall of Fame Game” beginning at 5:30 September 30th on 1410 WCMT-AM.
