GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tre Simmons passed for 280 yards and five touchdowns as the Tusculum University football posted a 70-13 season-opening victory over visiting St. Augustine's University Thursday night at Pioneer Field.
The Pioneers (1-0) scored the most points against a NCAA Division II opponent in the modern era of the program while establishing team single-game record with 10 extra points made in a game.
Tusculum churned out 511 offensive yards while holding the Falcons to 214 yards and forced three turnovers resulting into 14 points as TU posted a win over St. Augustine's for a second straight season.
Simmons five touchdown passes are tied for the third-most in school history and the six total TD tosses by Tusculum are the second-most with only the seven thrown against Brevard in 2010, all by former TU All-American and Hall of Famer Bo Cordell.
The Pioneers mounted a balanced attack with 317 yards through the air and 194 yards on the ground with three touchdowns including two by Mekhai Johnson in his Tusculum debut.
TU's Courtney Jackson led all players rushing for 63 yards, while Alvin Barriner was second with 47 yards including his first touchdown of his collegiate career.
All-South Atlantic Conference receiving Justice Parham accounted four catches for 112 yards including a 47-yard touchdown strike from Simmons. Kemani Brown hauled in a pair of TD receptions including a 58-yarder on Tusculum's opening possession.
Defensively, the Pioneers were led by linebacker Wesley Scott who posted six tackles including one for loss in his Tusculum debut. Earnest Johnson added five stops including two for loss, while Preseason All-SAC lineman Dajavon finished with three tackles for loss including two of the Pioneers three sacks on the evening. In all, the Pioneers finished the game with 13 total tackles behind the of scrimmage.
The Falcons (0-1) took the opening possession of the game and moved to midfield before a sack by White and Joslyn Mira forced the visitors to punt. After a pair of runs by Maurice Gomillion, Simmons went to the air and found Brown on a 58-yard completion to the end zone. Juan Villasenor's extra point made it 7-0 at the 11:46 mark of the opening quarter.
Tusculum held St. Augustine's to three and out and forced to punt. TU newcomer Eddie Watson returned the punt for a 61-yard touchdown for a 14-0 Pioneer lead. It is the fifth-longest punt return in school history and the longest in nine seasons when Kaytron Becton returned a 55-yarder for a score against College of Faith in the 2013 season-opener.
The score remained 14-0 until early in the second quarter when Simmons was intercepted by SAU's Antonio King at the TU 19. Four plays later, quarterback Chris Perkins hit Jordan Black on a 15-yard shuffle pass for the score. The extra point went wide left as the score stood at 14-6 with 12:28 left before halftime.
The Tusculum defense forced back-to-back interceptions on consecutive drives, one by John Smith and the other by Jermaine Witherspoon, who returned the pick 26 yards to the SAU two yard-line.
Johnson would punch it in on the first play of the drive for his first touchdown of the game as TU extended the lead to 21-6. That score would begin a run of 43 unanswered points by the Pioneers including a pair of touchdowns in the final three minutes of the half. Simmons completed a 20-yard toss to Tyler Burke and a seven-yard toss to Brown with 14 seconds left on the scoreboard as TU took a 35-6 lead into the locker room.
Simmons opened the second half with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Ajiero on third play of the quarter. Simmons wrapped up his night with a 42-yard pass to Parham and the rout was on.
Johnson scored his second touchdown of the game with his nine-yard run midway in the third quarter to extend the TU lead to 56-6.
Perkins accounted for his second TD of the game to halt the Tusculum surge in the opening moments of the fourth quarter.
Tusculum capped off the game with a Brayden Phillips 13-yard TD toss to Mydreon Vines and Barriner ended the scoring with his two-yard touchdown run with 3:53 left on the clock.
Perkins finished the game going 12-of-26 for 133 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
The Tusculum kicking duo of Villasenor (6-of-6) and John Aiden Pittman (4-of-4) went a perfect 10-of-10 on their extra point tries.
The Pioneers will be on the road Saturday, Sept. 10 when they travel to Murfreesboro, North Carolina to take on Chowan University. Tusculum will be looking to avenge last year's 46-38 double-overtime loss to the Hawks.
