ST. GEORGE — The Trailblazers were stomped in a bear attack when Utah Tech’s football team went to Springfield, Missouri on Saturday afternoon.
Missouri State clawed the visitors throughout the contest and the Bears mauled Utah Tech 59-14.
The Trailblazers started off strong, forcing two turnovers on the Bears’ opening possessions. This was after Utah Tech’s defense forced a season-high five turnovers in last week’s road win at Northern Arizona.
But the offense failed to capitalize and got no points off the Bears’ gifts and it was all Missouri State after that.
The home team led 14-7 after the first quarter, erupted for 24 more points in the second and took a comfortable 38-14 lead into halftime.
Then the Bears kept attacking with 21 more unanswered points in the second half to provide the lopsided score.
Missouri State rolled for 672 total yards in the contest including 462 yards through the air. Quarterback Jacob Clark did most of that damage for the Bears, completing 19-of-26 passes for 414 yards and five touchdowns.
Two Bears receivers went over the century mark as Terique Owens (five catches for 140 yards, two TD’s) and Raylen Sharp (five grabs for 109 yards) were Clark’s most frequent targets.
Utah Tech quarterback Kobe Tracy was harassed all day by the Bears. His stat line showed 17-of-41 passes completed for 167 yards and four interceptions. Tracy did record a first-half rushing touchdown for Utah Tech, as did Ronnie Walker Jr. Chris Street was the leading runner with 63 yards off of 10 attempts.
Nine different Trailblazers caught at least one pass, led by Keith Davis and his two grabs for 61 yards.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier next weekend as Utah Tech concludes this three-game road trip in Fort Collins, Colorado against the Colorado State Rams.
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