CARROLLTON, Ga. (Sept. 13, 2025) – The ETSU football team led No. 25 West Georgia most of the night, but the nationally-ranked Wolves mounted a second-half rally to upend the Bucs in the final minute, 35-31. With Saturday’s loss, the Bucs move to 1-2 on the season.
Saturday’s contest started with West Georgia on offense first. UWG got one first down, but the Buc defense got off the field shortly after. Like the Wolves, ETSU moved the chains once on its first possession. West Georgia forced the Blue and Gold into a fourth down. The Bucs tried an unsuccessful fake punt, giving UWG excellent field position (ETSU 33-yard line). Despite the short field, the Buccaneers held West Georgia to a short field goal try that split the uprights, giving the home squad the early 3-0 lead.
Facing an early deficit, the ETSU offense put together a 16-play, 75-yard drive punctuated by an eight-yard touchdown run by Jason Albritton. It was Albritton’s second straight game with a touchdown. Furthermore, the Bucs converted on one fourth-down attempt and three third-down tries to keep the possession alive. Albritton’s touchdown was also on a third down (3rd and 5).
ETSU promptly got the ball back as Kaven Call deflected a pass from West Georgia’s Davin Wydner and hauled it in for his first collegiate interception. Call brought that pick down to UWG’s 13-yard line. The Bucs did not do much on their first two plays, but on yet another third down (3rd and 13), Jacolby Criswell found Cole Keller in the back right corner of the endzone to grow the Bucs’ advantage to double digits. For both Criswell and Keller, it was their first touchdowns as Bucs.
As play moved into the second quarter, West Georgia regained some momentum, as Wydner connected with Latrelle Murrell on a screen pass, and Murrell took it the distance for a 62-yard touchdown, making it 14-10 ETSU.
The Bucs quickly answered the score by the Wolves with one of their own. Four of the six plays on ETSU’s next drive were 10 yards or longer. Khalil Eichelberger got things rolling with a 12-yard rush. Criswell rushed for five more yards before finding Ephraim Floyd (17 yards) and Karim Page (31 yards) for significant gains through the air. The 31-yard strike to Page was a touchdown, and that was his first score in an ETSU uniform.
West Georgia moved its offense into the red zone on its next possession. But a big-time sack from Brian Alston (first of his career) pushed the Wolves back from the ETSU 16-yard line to the ETSU 31. UWG kicker Tommy Holden salvaged a bit of the drive as he nailed a 49-yard field goal to make it 21-13 Bucs.
An ETSU interception set the Wolves up with another offensive possession near midfield with 4:09 to go before halftime. UWG converted on a third and fourth down to bring the clock under a minute. The Bucs appeared to end the Wolves’ drive with an interception by Trevor Moffitt, but that call was reversed. On a third down try, the Bucs did get an interception by Ryan Barrett in the endzone to stop UWG’s scoring chance. It was Barrett’s first career interception.
The first three offensive possessions of the second half did not yield much production. ETSU received a sudden jolt of momentum as a UWG punt hit one of their players who was blocking on the play. Long snapper Brock Winstead was able to jump on the loose ball to set the Bucs up at the Wolves’ 21-yard line. Criswell rushed for 10 yards on a quarterback sweep, and then he found Devontae Houston on a swing pass that went for a touchdown.
With the score now 28-13 ETSU, the Wolves sparked a scoring drive with a 19-yard pass. That long gain was followed by 61 rushing yards from West Georgia, which ended in a touchdown by TJ Lester, bringing UWG back within one score.
Houston ran for 13 yards, and Criswell found Floyd on a 33-yard strike across the middle to put ETSU in West Georgia territory. The possession would unfortunately stall out, but Ewan Johnson connected on a career-long 46-yard field goal to push ETSU’s lead back to 11, 31-20.
West Georgia missed a 54-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter but got within one score of the Bucs with about six-and-a-half minutes to go in regulation. Three costly pass interference penalties helped keep UWG’s drive alive until Murrel found daylight again on a 27-yard touchdown reception. A successful two-point conversion by West Georgia brought the Wolves within a field goal, 31-28.
West Georgia’s defense forced ETSU’s offense to go three-and-out on its next possession. UWG made one first down on the drive, but then a clutch interception by Jivon Oggs, his second of the season, ended the Wolves’ drive with just under two minutes to go.
ETSU’s offense took the field, and West Georgia had two timeouts to use to stop the clock. UWG’s defense did its job and gave the Wolves a chance to tie or win the game with 42 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
A pair of big passes totaling 68 yards brought the Wolves inside the ETSU five-yard line. UWG then connected on a two-yard touchdown pass to give the Wolves their first lead since the first quarter, 35-31, with 15 seconds to go. A long pass with nine seconds to go by ETSU was intercepted, which sealed the comeback win for West Georgia.
