It was Utah Tech's Senior Day at Greater Zion Stadium, and it was one of those seniors along with a pair of sophomore record breakers who stole the show, as the Trailblazers closed out their 2022 home slate with a 34-28 victory over Tarleton State on Saturday afternoon.
 
With the win, UT's third-straight overall, the Blazers improved to 4-6 overall and will finish no worse than third place in the Western Athletic Conference standings at 2-2.
 
After Tarleton (5-5/1-3 WAC) scored a touchdown on its opening possession, Utah Tech responded with a five play, 75-yard drive, which culminated on a 19-yard Victor Gabalis-to-Joey Hobert scoring strike to knot the game at 7-7 with just over four minutes remaining in the first quarter.
 
That completion made a little history as Hobert became the program's single season receiving yards leader and pulled him into a tie, albeit briefly at time, atop UT's season touchdown receptions list.
 
Trailing 14-7 with just under six minutes to go in the half and pinned its own 1-yard line, Utah Tech flipped the field by going 95 yards in 10 plays to get to the Texan 4-yard line. 
 
Sophomore running back Quali Conley got the Blazers in Tarleton territory with a 24-yard scamper, while Gabalis connected with Hobert for a 39-yard completion to set up first and goal.

Unfortunately for the home fans, Utah Tech could not punch it into the end zone and had to settle for a Connor Brooksby 21-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 14-10 with 1:00 left in the frame. 

Tarleton looked as if it would quickly answer when quarterback Beau Allen rattled off three-straight completions to get the Texans to the UT 8-yard line. 
 
However the Blazer defense would turn away the Texans, and in the process, take the lead when senior DB Darrius Nash picked off Allen at the UT 5 and returned it a school-record tying 95 yards to pay dirt as Utah Tech took a 17-14 lead into the halftime intermission. 
 
Utah Tech extended the lead to 24-14 on its opening possession of the second half, marching 83 yards in eight plays, which ended when Gabalis threaded a 16-yard pass over the middle between two defenders to Hobert in the end zone.

Hobert's touchdown was a historic one as he passed for UT All-American Joe Don Duncan atop the program's single-season touchdown reception list his 14^th of the year.
 
The Trailblazers would make it a three-possession game later in the frame when Conley recorded his eighth rushing touchdown of the season with a 35-yard run with 2:10 on the clock. UT then added a Brooksby 22-yard field goal with nearly four minutes gone in the fourth quarter to take control at 34-14 with 11:09 to play.
 
Tarleton answered with two touchdowns, the first coming just 12 seconds later on a 50-yard Allen-to-Darius Cooper completion. The Texans then made it a one possession game following an Ontario Douglas 2-yard dive with 1:11 left.
 
The Texans then lined up for an onside kick, but the Blazers would recover it and run out the clock to send their seniors out as winners in their home finale.
 
Gabalis threw for 272 yards on 22-of-36 passing to go with his two touchdowns, with 10 of his completions and both TDs going to Hobert, who finished with 140 yards receiving en route to his seventh 100-yard game of the season.
 
In all, Hobert etched his name atop the UT record books in four statistical categories on the afternoon. Not only did the sophomore become the program's single season leader in TDs (14) and receiving yards (1,158), he also broke UT season records for catches (79) and scoring (84 points). 
 
In addition, Hobert moved into second place on UT's single season all-purpose yards list (1,343 yds), while his 14 touchdowns put him sixth and 10^th on UT's career receiving and total TDs lists, respectively.
 
Meanwhile, Conley became the first running back to record a 1,000-yard season (1,034 yds) in the program's NCAA era and posted the program's first 200-yard rushing game in its brief Division I transition as he ran for a career-high 215 yards on 25 carries. 

The sophomore's 215 yards are the fourth-most in a single game in the program's NCAA era as he became the sixth different back in program history to record at least 200 rushing yards in one game. 
 
Conley (1,697 yds), who also scored his eighth rushing TD of the season (t-3rd on UT's single season list) in third quarter, also moved to with three yards of becoming the third back in program history to rush for 1,700 career yards. Additionally, the sophomore's touchdown was his 13^th-career rushing TD (#4 on UT's career list) and 15 career score overall (t-8^th on UT's career list).

Utah Tech ran up 502 yards of total offense on the day, while the Blazer defense limited Tarleton to 463 yards, though the Texans only managed 175 of those yards after halftime.  
 
Sophomore linebacker Will Leota led the Blazer defensive effort with 12 total tackles, while freshman Jayden Sheridan collected a career-high eight total stops.  Nash finished with five solo tackles on the day, while his 95-yard interception return was Utah Tech's third pick six of the season. 

Utah Tech's defense also tallied six sacks and nine tackles-for-loss in the win, including two TFLs for senior DL Dylan Hendrickson (13 career sacks), who moved to within one sack of becoming UT's career sacks leader, while sophomore DL Sam Kanongata'a racked up two sacks. 
 
Allen threw for 397 yards on 28-of-48 passing and one touchdown, while Kelley III had 49 yards on 18 carries. 
 
Utah Tech will close the 2022 season next Saturday with a road date at FBS member and in-state foe BYU. Kick off inside LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo is set for 1:30 p.m.