Box Score Blowout Victory Completes 3-1 Month
MARYVILLE – Cody Estep tied a Maryville record with four rushing touchdowns to help the Scots to a 52-16 Homecoming victory over LaGrange in front of 2,577 fans.
Estep rushed 14 times for 100 yards, the first 100-yard game of his collegiate career. But Estep wasn't the only Scot having success on the ground:
- The Scots rushed for a season-high 307 yards;
- Maryville ran 84 plays, including 63 rushing attempts, to just 50 total plays for LaGrange;
- Time of possession favored Maryville by 39:11 to 20:49.
Before Saturday, Maryville's only previous 100-yard rushing game BY THE TEAM was 185 in the 38-17 victory over Southern Virginia that got this 3-1 month started.
"It's been a lot of fun," Maryville head coach Ben Fox said. "I give our guys credit because they continue to work hard. And now they are seeing the return on investment from the work they have done in practice.
"I talked all week that I wanted us to be the most physical team out there today and I wanted us to have an attitude and set a tone, and they did that. They answered the bell on that."
The Scots with Saturday's win improved to 3-5 overall and 3-3 in the USA South. LaGrange is now 1-6 and 1-4.
Maryville's opening possession ended in an Estep 9-yard run. LaGrange answered with a pair of touchdowns less than 2 minutes apart to go in front 14-7 with 4:39 left in the first quarter.
That's when special teams and defense began to turn things around.
Trevor Thomas pooched two punts in the game that were downed at the 1-yard line. Both led to safeties by the Maryville defense.
The first came courtesy of a shared TFL by Matthew Walker and Jamarcus Dunn. The second tackle for safety was by Caden Harbin, who later added a 48-yard interception return for touchdown.
And here's a fun stat: The Maryville defense registered zero sacks in the game and yet held LaGrange to 3 net rushing yards on 20 attempts. Bo Hering forced a 23-yard loss when he batted down an attempted pitch that the Scots recovered. Dunn and Nico Starcher also forced fumbles that were recovered by Maryville.
Estep scored from 1 and 5 yards out in the second quarter and once more in the fourth, this time from 24 yards to make it 38-16 with 12:10 remaining. Tevin Thrower capped the scoring with a 19-yard run.
"I sound like a broken record, but all we've ever wanted was on a week-to-week basis for our team to reach its full potential," Fox said. "If we do that then by the end of the year, we'll be happy with where we are.
"It's a process to get through a month like we had in September. It didn't feel like it, but we were doing things better and now we've seen it by how well we're running the football. That's been fun."
Maryville's 52 points and 36-point victory were the most for the program since September 2017, when the Scots beat Emory & Henry 56-46 and followed that up with a 48-6 victory over Greensboro.
Maryville has an open date upcoming, followed by a Nov. 6 visit to Huntingdon. The Scots host Greensboro on Nov. 13 in the season finale.
