ETSU to honor both Seniors and Heroes in home finale

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Nov. 15, 2019) – The ETSU Buccaneers will hold their final home game of the 2019 regular season as they welcome the Mercer Bears into town. Kickoff at William B. Greene, Jr. Stadium is set to commence at 1:05 p.m. Prior to kickoff, ETSU will partake in Senior Day to honor its 21 seniors that have paved the way for the program.

SATURDAY SHOWDOWN
Date/Time: Saturday, Nov. 16 @ 1:05p
Location: Johnson City, Tenn. | Greene Stadium
Teams: ETSU (2-8, 0-7) vs. Mercer (4-6, 3-4)
Weather: High: 52 Low: 27; Mostly sunny
Game Notes: ETSU| Mercer
Live Stats: ETSUBucs.com
Live Video: ESPN3 – David Jackson, Mark Hutsell, Kasey Marler
Live Audio: WXSM Radio
Radio Personnel: Jay “Voice of the Bucs” Sandos, Matt Wilhjelm (color analyst), Robert Harper (sideline)
Twitter: @ETSUFootball
Game Sponsor: Widener Insurance

Senior Day
Saturday’s game marks the final home game of the 2019 regular season and with that, SENIOR DAY! The Bucs will kickoff the game with a brief ceremony acknowledging the 21 seniors that have shaped this program into where it is now. Members of this group laid the foundation for ETSU football and will always be remembered for jumpstarting the program and putting the team on the right track. Members of this group provided historical moments in Buccaneer football history, including a win over Western Carolina at Bristol Motor Speedway, being a part of the inaugural game inside William B. Greene, Jr. Stadium and the historical season that was written in 2018 as Southern Conference champions.

Heroes Day
In conjunction with Heroes Day at Saturday’s football game against Mercer, the ETSU Athletics Department has announced a commemorative plan of action to honor those who have served, those who have fallen in the line of duty and those who continue to serve today. ETSU has partnered with RTTN4 (Rolling Thunder, Inc. Tennessee Chapter 4) and has placed an empty black chair inside Greene Stadium to honor the more than 91,000 POW/MIAs that have never returned home from all previous foreign wars. The “Gone But Not Forgotten” Empty Chair project is a means to publicly remember the unaccounted POW/MIAs with the first one being placed on Monday, May 26, 2008 at the Smokies Stadium in Kodak, Tenn. Updates were made to the original design and the installment was dedicated at Bristol Motor Speedway in March, 2011. As of November 2017, a total of 21 “Missing Man” chairs had been installed and dedicated at various public places, all within the Tri-Cities and surrounding communities in Tennessee and Virginia. In addition to the empty chair, the Bucs will also be donning an ETSU logo on the helmet with the American Flag making up the colors inside the logo in place of the traditional blue and gold colors. ETSU will honor service men and women as well as first responders with presentations and announcements throughout the duration of the game. The Bucs would also like to extend an invitation to attend the game FREE OF CHARGE to all service men and women, as well as the first responders.

On this Date
The Bucs are 3-4 all-time when playing on Nov. 16. Interesting enough, the first three games for ETSU on Nov. 16 were at Middle Tennessee State where the Bucs won two of three games in 1968 (24-21) and 1974 (17-7). The Bucs have played just one home game in program history on Nov. 16, falling to The Citadel in 1991 by the final score of 17-7. The Bucs are averaging just 13.3 points per game on Nov. 16, while yielding 23.6 points to opponents on this date in history. ETSU’s most recent showdown on Nov. 16 came in 2002 when the Bucs fell to Chattanooga by the final score of 27-10. The most important note in ETSU history on this date is Nov. 16, 2015 when ETSU Athletics broke ground and started construction on William B. Greene, Jr. Stadium.

Holmes is Where the Heart Is
Quay Holmes has put on a show for the Bucs recently, edging closer to 1,000 yards. Should Holmes rush for 122 yards in the final two games, he would become the fifth player in program history to eclipse 1,000 yards in a single season. Brandon Walker reached the mark twice in his career. Holmes’ last two outings were career performances, begin- ning with 120 yards on the ground against The Citadel to set a then-record in personal rushing yards. Most recently against Western Carolina, Holmes set both a career-best in rushing attempts (36) and rushing yards (166). Holmes’ 36 rushing attempts is tied for the 4th-most attempts in a single game in program history, as well as tied for 7th most in an FCS game this season. Holmes has now reached 1,806 career rushing yards in two seasons, recently jumping ahead of Gaven Varner (1,798) for 9th all-time in ETSU his- tory. In his last four games, Holmes has rushed for 462 yards and two touchdowns on 82 carries, averaging 5.6 yards per attempt. The last two games alone, the Georgia native has rushed for 286 yards on 56 carries (5.1 per attempt).

Taming the Bears
This will be just the fifth all-time meeting between ETSU and Mercer, with the two teams splitting the series at 2-2. The Bears claimed the first two contests, while the Bucs have rattled off two consecutive wins to even the series. Both wins for the Bucs have been by three points as ETSU defeated Mercer 26-23 in 2017 and 21-18 in 2018. The Bucs’ most recent victory over the Bears clinched at least a share of the 2018 regular season Southern Conference title, doing so on the road in Macon, Ga. This will be just the second time that the two squads have met in Johnson City, with ETSU claiming the first matchup following the three-point victory in just the third game played in Greene Stadium history.

Coverage
Saturday’s game will also be broadcast on ESPN3 with the team of David Jackson (play-by-play), and Mark Hutsell (color commentary) and Kasey Marler (sideline) providing the call.

The Buccaneer Sports Network (BSN) will provide ETSU fans with complete pregame, in-game and postgame coverage on the Bucs’ flagship station WXSM-AM 640 and affiliate station 104.9 FM NASH ICON.

The BSN begins its pregame programing one hour and 30 minutes prior to kickoff with the 30-minute long Tennessee Lottery Tailgate Show, followed by the Randy Sanders Pregame Show Powered by Ford which will lead up to 30 minutes prior to kickoff. The Appalachian Orthopaedic Countdown to Kickoff will then lead into the final moments before kickoff.       

The broadcast team of “Voice of the Bucs” Jay Sandos, color analyst and former ETSU quarterback Matt Wilhjelm, sideline reporter Robert Harper, and studio hosts Mike Gallagher and Don Helman will provide ETSU fans all the information they need to complement their game-day activities.

At halftime, the crew will have the Zaxby’s Halftime Show, while fans can tune into the General Shale Post Game Show for a full wrap up, with game statistics, players and coach interviews, and other post-game information.     

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For more information on Buccaneer football, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the football page.