Tennessee St. uses second-half rally to stun Tennessee Tech

Published

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Chris Rowland had 148 receiving yards and a touchdown on 12 receptions and Tennessee State rallied to shock Tennessee Tech 37-27 on Saturday.

Tennessee State (3-9, 2-6 Ohio Valley Conference) overcame first-half deficits of 20-0 and 27-10 and used the final quarters to stage the comeback.

Down 17 at the half, Te'kendrick Roberson ran it in from 14 yards to complete an 11-play, 81-yard drive to start the third quarter. The two-point conversion failed. Later, Rowland threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Rosendahl and reduced the deficit to 27-23.

More than midway through the fourth, DeMarco Corbin made it 30-27 after his 3-yard TD run. On the Golden Eagles’ next drive, Seth Rowland got free and blocked Luke Maynard’s punt that Jordan Bell recovered in the end zone with 4:44 left.

The Tigers entered with three straight defeats and had been beaten in nine of their last 10 games. It’s the second straight year the Tigers have beaten Tennessee Tech (6-6, 3-5). Tennessee State ended the season with consecutive defeats.