Carrollton, GA – For the second straight year, the UWG Wolves football team are Super Region 2 Champions after a dominating 35-6 win over Tuskegee in the NCAA Quarterfinals at University Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
It was a career-day for senior quarterback Dallas Dickey as the Carrollton native threw for 398 yards on 16-of-24 on the day and three touchdowns to three different receivers. As impressive as Dickey was, the UWG defense was equally impressive, tallying five sacks while holding the Golden Tiger offense to just 146 total yards and just 27 yards rushing.
The win gave West Georgia their second-straight NCAA Super Region 2 Championship, and puts UWG in the NCAA Semifinals for the second year in a row. UWG will play the winner of Emporia State and Northwest Missouri State next Saturday at a time and location that will be announced on Sunday afternoon.
“I can’t say enough about the foundation that was already here when I arrived,” said head coach Will Hall. “But our guys played like champions today, we were ‘on’ from the start and never let up throughout the game.”
On the first possession of the game, UWG fumbled on third down and Tuskegee recovered on the UWG 33-yard line. Tuskegee would then find pay dirt on a one-yard score by Kevin Lacey. UWG’s special teams guru Marcus Sayles would block the PAT, giving the Golden Tigers a 6-0 lead.
West Georgia would then respond with a quick, five-play drive that was capped by a 35-yard touchdown pass from Dallas Dickey to Brandon Walton for West Georgia’s first lead of the afternoon.
After a strong defensive showing on the next drive, West Georgia would score in just two offensive plays, the biggest a 66-yard touchdown strike from Dickey to Qa Walker, putting the Wolves up 14-6 after Hunter Heck‘s PAT.
There would be one more chance for the Wolves to put points on the board, but a 27-yard field goal attempt by Hunter Heck would be wide right and that would send teams to the locker room.
It took until the 3:57 mark in the third quarter for either team to score again as West Georgia took a 21-6 lead on a five yard rushing touchdown by Devontae Jackson. The touchdown was the 58th touchdown of the season for UWG, setting a new single-season school record.
Later in the period, a Carlos Hutton interception halted a Tuskegee drive deep into UWG territory, the UWG offense flexed its muscles, completing passes of 32 and 55 yards before Devontae Jackson ran it in for his second score of the day from six yards out, giving UWG a 28-6 lead.
“I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time,” said Hutton. “Our coaches gave us a fairly easy game plan, and that was to play as physical as possible, and we won the day by doing that.”
The final score of the game was an exclamation point on an amazing day for the Wolves as Dickey found Shaq Hall for a 40-yard score and a 35-6 margin.
Qa Walker led the Wolves in receiving with 153 yards and a touchdown. On the ground Devontae Jackson led West Georgia with 71 yards.
Defensively, the Wolves had two interceptions, one from David Singleton to go with Hutton’s pick. Hutton led with eight total tackles while Jermaine Morris led with two sacks, while Marion Chapman, Gabe Freeman, and Chris Rabb combined for the other three.
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