Top-seeded New Hamshire rallies past Chattanooga Mocs

DURHAM, N.H. – Sean Goldrich passed for two touchdowns and ran for another as top-seeded New Hampshire survived several scares before pulling away in the fourth quarter for a 35-30 win over Chattanooga on Friday night in an FCS playoff quarterfinal.

The Wildcats will host the winner of today’s Eastern Washington-Illinois State game in Cheney. The semifinal will be either Friday or Saturday.

R.J. Harris had 172 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns, taking a screen pass 61 yards with 11:04 remaining for New Hampshire’s second touchdown in a span of 2 minutes, 19 seconds.

The two quick scores allowed the Wildcats (12-1) to finally pull away and advance to the national semifinals for the second straight year. New Hampshire also reached 12 wins for the first time in school history despite being outplayed by the Mocs (10-4) for the first three quarters.

Chattanooga finished with 566 yards of offense to New Hampshire’s 329 – 121 of which came during the Wildcats’ rally in the fourth quarter.

Nico Steriti’s 6-yard touchdown run with 11:04 to play put New Hampshire up 28-24, then a quick three-and-out by the Mocs followed by a bad punt set up the Wildcats at their own 39-yard line.

UNH tricked up the Mocs on first down with a series of handoffs and a pitch back to Goldrich as Harris made his way unnoticed by the defense and took the screen pass down the left sideline untouched for a touchdown. Steriti scored on a similar play in the first quarter to give New Hampshire a 7-0 lead.