Utah Tech made its United Athletic Conference debut a successful one as the Trailblazers rallied for a 37-31 home victory over Stephen F. Austin on Saturday night at Greater Zion Stadium.  
 
The Trailblazers (2-4/1-0 UAC) got off on the right foot as they opened the game with an 11-play, 75-yard drive en route to an early 7-0 lead. 
 
Redshirt junior quarterback Kobe Tracy picked 53 of those yards in the air, highlighted by a 39-yard completion to Rickie Johnson that moved the ball from the UT 37 to the SFA 24. 
 
Tracy would hit Johnson again for 10 more yards on 3^rd and 11 to get to the Lumberjack 4. Head Coach Paul Peterson elected to go for it on fourth down, and his offense responded as Tracy pitched the ball to Chris Street, who rambled around the left side untouched into the endzone for not only his first touchdown of the season, but the Blazers' first opening drive TD of the year.
 
Utah Tech had a chance to go up two scores early in the second quarter, but a 42-yard Connor Brooksby field goal attempt did not find its mark.
 
SFA (3-31-1 UAC) quickly took advantage, tying the game at 7-7 on the very next play with an Anthony Miller 75-yard touchdown run.
 
The Blazers jumped back out in front on their next possession thanks to a Brooksby 40-yard field goal. However SFA would counter with a 9-yard Brian Mauer touchdown pass to Kylon Harris to make it a 14-10 game with 4:30 to play in the first half. 
 
Utah Tech answered with a touchdown of its own with just over two minutes left until halftime when Tracy found Beau Sparks, who made an acrobatic catch in the corner of the endzone for a 19-yard touchdown. 
 
Stephen F. Austin would wrestle the lead back on its first possession of the third quarter when Mauer faked a hand off to Williams, then hit the tailback over the middle in stride. Williams then sprinted untouched 57 yards to paydirt for the only score of the period to put his side up 21-17.
 
SFA would add a field goal to push its lead to 24-17 with 12:52 to play, but from there it was all Trailblazers.
 
Utah Tech pulled even at 24-24 on its ensuing drive when Tracy hit Johnson over the middle for a 28-yard catch and run score. 
 
The Trailblazer defense then stepped up on SFA's next possession when Syrus Webster came around the end to strip Mauer of the ball, which was recovered by Laytan Tanuvasa at the SFA 23. 
 
Webster, who was tabbed the UAC's preseason defensive player of the year, showed why he earned the honor as he recorded his second strip-sack in as many games. In fact, three of Webster's team-leading four sacks on the season have been of the strip-sack variety.
 
Utah Tech needed only one play to turn the SFA miscue into points when Tracy hit Keith Davis at the SFA 15, where the senior receiver cut back inside and then won the race to the pylon for his first touchdown of the season. 
 
However SFA would block the PAT try, which made the score 30-24 with 8:21 remaining.
 
After both teams exchanged punts, the Blazer defense would stiffen again as the unit turned the Lumberjacks away for the second time on fourth down, this time on 4^th and 1 at the SFA 41 with 2:26 to go.
 
Facing 3^rd and 23 at the UT 46, Tracy handed the ball of Street, who bolted through the line for a 36-yard gain to the SFA 13. Then after a Blazer delay of game penalty, Street made it a two-score game with his second touchdown of the night from 18 yards out with 1:19 on the clock.
 
SFA would tack on a cosmetic score with five seconds left, but UT would get the ball back after a penalty negated the Jacks' onside kick try and kneeled out the clock to cinch the win. 
 
Utah Tech racked up a season-high 461 yards of total offense, and managed to outgain its opponent for the first time in six games this season (SFA 451 yards). 
 
Tracy threw with 289 yards on 23-of-39 passing and three touchdowns. For Tracy, it was his 10^th-career multi-touchdown game, and was the third three-TD game of his career. In addition, the junior signal caller moved into second place in Utah Tech's career touchdowns list (29). 
 
Johnson finished with a season-high 148 yards on six catches, and in the process became the fourth Trailblazer in the program's NCAA era to surpass 1,600 career receiving yards (1,675). The senior wideout also moved into sixth place in career receptions (118), and t-seventh in touchdowns (11) with his fourth quarter grab.
 
Meanwhile Sparks hauled in a career-high nine passes for 68 yards, while his second quarter TD was his team-leading fourth of the year. 
 
Not to be outdone, the Blazer running back corps combined to rush for a season-high 172 yards, led by Ronnie Walker Jr. with 75 yards on 16 carries. Street added 62 yards on seven attempts to go with his first collegiate two-touchdown game, and freshman Nygel Osborne rushed eight times for a career-high 66 yards.
 
On defense, senior linebacker Dondi Fuller recorded a career-high 13 tackles, including 11 stops with one tackle-for-loss, while Webster wound up with eight total tackles, and added another strip-sack late in the fourth quarter. Webster now has career 12.5 sacks to his credit, which moved him into solo third place on UT's career sacks list and leaves him two sacks shy of becoming the program's all-time sacks leader. 
 
Mauer finished with 228 yards on 21-of-38 passing and three touchdowns, while Williams rushed for a game-high 147 yards on 20 carries to lead the SFA offense. 

Following its bye week next week, Utah Tech heads back out on the road for a UAC date at North Alabama on Saturday, Oct. 21. Kick-off at Braly Stadium in Florence is set for 5 p.m. (MT).