How two field goal blocks won WVU football its fourth-straight
West Virginia's defense strung together a shutout second half against TCU on Saturday, forcing five punts and a turnover on downs but the game ultimately came down to two special teams stands on two different game-tying field goal attempts in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
WVU is now 4-1 and has won its fourth straight game in a row against TCU on Saturday and the defense carried the load. In the third quarter, the Mountaineers only allowed one total yard and one first down to the Horned Frogs and only 121 offensive yards were allowed in the entire second half.
This defensive resurgence after a rocky start in Fort Worth, was capped off by a pair of blocked field goals and an impressive feat on special teams to seal the win. The first block came with just under five minutres to go, when nose tackle MIke Lockhart jumped up and swatted away TCU kicker Griffin Kell's 46-yard attempt to maintain a three-point lead.
Then with under 45 seconds together, another long field was held for by TCU but defensive lineman and West Virginia native Sean Martin put up his hand and blocked the kick for a second time, this time on a 55-yard attempt that sealed the victory.
"Coach told us to strike and put our arm up, so I striked and put my arm up and blocked the kick. It hit my hand," Martin said.
Lockhart's blocked kick earlier in the quarter set the tone for the entire fourth quarter, and it especially showed on special teams.
"I told all my teammates, I said 'I'm going to block this field goal for us.' Then the hole came open and I blocked it and the rest was history," Lockhart said.
Head coach Neal Brown said that WVU had planned to go for the block on these two kicks and wanted to affect the ball in the air because of the distance, but he also gave credit to the effort that Martin and Lockhart gave to make a play happen.
"We tried to block it, but anytime it gets long like that, your ball is not going to have the same trajectory on it. So we came after it in the middle. Sean Martin's really long and Mike Lockhart's got a nice little niche for that," Brown said. "We probably spend more time most teams doing that. We do good on good and the work paid off."
Brown was impressed by his team's overall performance on special teams, especially in the most crucial moment when they needed it to seal the second-straight Big 12 win.
"Special teams, I can't say enough about that. Our defensive line is talented, we got a really good push on both blocked field goals," Brown said.
Lockhart attributed the second half defensive success and the blocked field goals to one determining factor, playing for his teammates that they lost due to injury and sealing the win for them.
"The difference in the second half was that we were playing for our brothers. We know our brothers are hurt and in the hospital and we were like, we got to win this for them, so we went out there and balled," Lockhart said.
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