EMORY, Va. --- The Emory & Henry defense forced seven turnovers including a game-ending interception by Jacob Robinson in overtime as the Wasps edged visiting Tusculum 27-24 Saturday afternoon at Fred Selfe Stadium in South Atlantic Conference football action.

Emory & Henry evens its overall record at 4-4 and moves to 2-4 in the league. Tusculum also goes to 4-4 overall and 4-2 in conference play to drop to second place in the SAC Mountain Division.

E&H quarterback Charles Mutter passed for 208 yards and threw a pair of touchdowns to Cam Peoples including a 24-yard TD with 2:27 left in regulation to give the Wasps a 24-21 lead.

On the ensuing possession, Tusculum drove 64 yards in 13 plays and tied the game on Nicholas Pope's 28-yard field goal with no time on the clock to force overtime.

TU won the coin toss and elected to go on defense to start the extra period. Emory & Henry got a first down on a defensive holding penalty to the Pioneers to move the football to the TU 13. But the drive would stall there and E&H kicker Trace Butcher connected on a 33-yarder for his third field goal of the game as the Wasps led 27-24.

After a Tusculum one-yard run, Pioneer quarterback Matthew Palazzo was sacked for a two-yard loss at the E&H 26. On third down, Palazzo dropped back to pass but he was intercepted for a fifth time on the afternoon as Robinson picked off the pass attempt across the middle to end the game.

Tusculum dominated statistically as the visitors accounted for 445 total yards while the Wasps were held to 261 total yards including 53 rushing yards. But the seven turnovers committed by Tusculum ties a school single-game record, matching the seven miscues posted against Lenoir-Rhyne in 2009.

Palazzo finished the game going 19-of-42 for 261 yards and three touchdowns, including a pair to Joe Robustelli for his team-leading fifth and sixth TDs of the season. Robustelli accounted for four catches for 127 yards with his TD receptions covering 37 and 68 yards.

TU's Jalen Hunt rushed for 79 yards on 17 carries, while Jojo Restall added 67 yards on his seven rush attempts.

E&H's J'Quan Anderson ran for 57 yards and a touchdown while Peoples posted four receptions for 94 yards and his two scores.

Defensively, Emory & Henry's Chendrick Cann led all players with 18 total tackles (9 solos, 9 assists) with an interception and three pass break-ups. Addison Knicely totaled 10 stops with one for loss, an interception and a break-up. Along with his game-winning pick, Robinson finished with nine tackles with one for loss and a break-up.

Tusculum's Earnest Johnson III had seven tackles including three for loss with a sack, while Wesley Scott tallied seven tackles with one behind the line of scrimmage.

In a scoreless first quarter, Tusculum turned the ball over on downs twice in E&H territory, while the Pioneers' Ty'Korian Brown stopped an Emory & Henry drive with his SAC-leading fifth interception of the season.

Tusculum would open the scoring early in the second quarter as Palazzo completed a five-yard pass to tight end Reginald Hunter. Pope's extra point made it 7-0 Tusculum with 13:59 left in the half.

After a punt, Tusculum moved into E&H territory again and would get to the 37 and faced fourth-down and 10 yards to go. The third time was the charm for the Pioneers as Palazzo connected with Robustelli on the 37-yard TD completion as Tusculum extended the lead to 14-0 with 10:12 left in the quarter.

The Pioneers forced a three and out, but Tusculum would fumble the punt with Emory & Henry's Rowan Burdick recovering the ball at the TU 19. The defense held once again as the Wasps would settle for a Butcher 39-yard field goal to trim the deficit to 14-3 with 7:33 to go in the half.

Later in the second quarter, Palazzo was intercepted by Jarrell Harrison at the E&H 40 with 2:44 to go. The Wasps would drive into Tusculum territory to the 24, but two incomplete passes and a sack by John Smith moved the ball to the TU 33. Butcher's 50-yard field try would be no good as Tusculum took the 14-3 lead into the locker room.

Tusculum continued its defensive dominance to start the third quarter and forced another punt. Ethan Muncy got off a 52-yarder as the Pioneers started at their own 6.

Six plays later, Knicely intercepted Palazzo at the TU 37 and the Wasps took advantage of the short field and Anderson would run up the middle for a 14-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion try was intercepted by Tusculum and nearly returned for a defensive two-pointer before being stopped shy of the end zone as the TU lead was trimmed to 14-9 with 8:23 left in the quarter.

Tusculum would have to punt and was called for kick catching interference as the Wasps started their next possession at the TU 34.

But Mutter's pass was deflected by Trejen Fox-Birdwell and intercepted by John Smith and returned to the TU 24 with 6:02 on the scoreboard. But less than a minute later, the Pioneers gave it back when Cann came up with an interception near midfield at the E&H 47. But the Wasps were unable to do anything with the turnover and would be forced to punt.

Early in the fourth quarter, E&H took its first lead of the game as Mutter completed a short pass to the middle of the field to Peoples, who scurried through the TU secondary to the end zone the 53-yard touchdown. The two-point try failed as the Wasps led 15-14.

With the lead and the momentum on its side, Emory & Henry forced a fumble in the TU backfield and the Wasps' Josh McCray recovered the ball at the TU 22.  E&H got to the TU 7, but Jamichael Wilson sacked Mutter in the backfield on third down. Butcher would connect on a 33-yard field goal to extend the lead to 18-14 with 11:23 left in regulation.

Tusculum would go three and out on the next possession but received new life when the Wasps were called for running into the punter on fourth down to extend the drive for the Pioneers. But Palazzo would be sacked on first down and was picked off a fourth time as T.J. Payne came up with the pick and returned the miscue 16 yards to the TU 21.

On the second play of the possession, Tusculum would be called for a personal foul to make it first-and-goal from the TU 8. The defense held again and forced a 22-yard field goal try, but the snap was low and the kick went low and wide left with 5:41 left in the quarter.

Four plays later, Palazzo connected with Robustelli again as he raced up the left sideline for a 68-yard touchdown as Tusculum regained the lead at 21-19 with 4:19 to go.

The Wasps started their next possession at their own 33 as Mutter found Cam Abshire for a 41-yard completion to the TU 26. Two plays later, Mutter hit Peoples on a 24-yard touchdown for a 24-21 lead. The extra-point snap was low and the kick went into Tusculum surge as the Pioneers trailed by three points with 2:27 left in regulation.

TU's game-tying scoring drive included a pair of key third down conversions including completions of 19 and 15 yards to Tyler Burke as the Pioneers got to the E&H 9. But a pair of passes to the end zone were incomplete and a short pass to the flat went for a two-yard loss with five seconds remaining on the clock to set up Pope's first goal in a Tusculum uniform.

Pope was perfect on his three extra-point tries and also averaged 40 yards per punt on his three attempts with a lone of 56 yards.

The Tusculum defense accounted for 11 tackles for loss with four sacks while Emory & Henry had nine hits behind the line of scrimmage with three sacks. TU went 7-of-19 on third down and 1-of-3 on fourth down, while E&H was 5-of-17 on its third down conversion tries.

Tusculum was penalized seven times for 74 yards while Emory & Henry was flagged twice for 10 yards.

The Pioneers will play its final road game of the regular season next Saturday when they travel to Greenwood, South Carolina to face Erskine College for a 1 p.m. conference game.