Utah Tech rode a pair of record-breaking performances en route to the Trailblazers' first victory of the season, a 34-21 United Athletic Conference home triumph over No. 9/11-ranked Central Arkansas on Saturday afternoon at Greater Zion Stadium.

Saturday's victory, which came in Utah Tech's 200th NCAA-era game, snapped the program's 14-game losing streak, and served as the first head coaching win for first year head coach Lance Anderson.
 
The Trailblazers (1-9/1-5 UAC), who led wire-to-wire, opened the scoring with a 30-yard Ilya Uvaydov field goal on their opening possession of the game.
 
Utah Tech then broke the game open with three second quarter touchdowns to take a commanding 24-7 lead into the halftime break.
 
The Blazers got their first touchdown at the 12:10 of the period when redshirt freshman quarterback Reggie Graff found tight end Eni Falayi over the middle from 6-yards out to push the lead to 10-0. The touchdown catch, Falayi's second in as many games, capped a stellar 12-play, 92-yard drive that took 6:19 off the clock.
 
UCA (6-3/3-2 UAC) used the big play to get that touchdown thanks to a 53-yard Darius Hale scamper that trimmed the Utah Tech lead to 10-7 with a little over five minutes to go until halftime. 
 
Utah Tech clapped back for two more touchdowns in the final two minutes, the first of which was set up by a 66-yard Shamar Garrett return on the Bears' ensuing kickoff that set the Blazers up at the UCA 29.
 
The Trailblazers managed to drive the ball to the UCA 3, where after a timeout and on fourth down, Utah Tech went into its bag of tricks.
 
Graff took the snap and handed the ball off on the end-around to running back Kona Crowell, who lateraled the ball back to wide receiver Bryce Parker, who then tossed the ball to a wide-open Graff at the goal line for "The Philly Special" touchdown.

Then on UCA's next possession, the Utah Tech defense rose up and forced one of the unit's school record tying six turnovers on the day when linebacker Fisher Jackson strip-sacked Bear quarterback Will McElvain at the UCA 8 yard line. 
 
Cody Carlson pounced on the loose ball at the Bear 5 to set up to the Blazer offense with first and goal to go.
 
Graff would cash in that miscue with his second scoring toss of the day, a 2-yarder to Garret, as the Trailblazers retreated to the locker room with their first halftime lead of the season.
 
Central Arkansas would tally the only points of the third quarter, which came on a Hale 3-yard run with five-plus minutes to go in the period.
 
Utah Tech answered that with a Uvaydov 24-yard chip shot field goal 39 second into the fourth quarter.
 
UCA would commit its fifth turnover of the day on the first play of its next possession when Hale coughed up the ball on a Dane Whalen tackle.
 
The Trailblazers then made it a three-possession lead six plays later when Graff called his own number and rambled 15-yards untouched up the middle to pay dirt for his fourth total touchdown of the game.
 
Graff's scoring run also made history as he became the first Trailblazer in the program's NCAA era to throw for a touchdown, catch a touchdown pass, and rush for a touchdown in the same game.

Central Arkansas responded on its next possession with a McElvain-to-Trejan Bridges 4-yard touchdown pass that cut the Blazer lead back down to 13 with 8:24 remaining.
 
The Bears then forced a Utah Tech punt and got the ball back with 4:18 to play. However the Trailblazer defense put the game on ice when linebacker Jaxson Smith picked off McElvain five plays later.
 
Utah Tech managed to burn off the final three-plus minutes off the clock to earn its first victory since the Trailblazers defeated former UAC member Stephen F. Austin nearly 13 months to the day (W, 37-31; 10/7/23).
 
Graff threw for 211 yards on 26-of-35 passing and two scores, and ran for a career high 90 yards on 24 carries to go with his rushing touchdown. 

Meanwhile Falayi posted Utah Tech's first 100-yard receiving game of the year as he notched career highs of 10 catches for 105 yards.

In all, Utah Tech finished with 342 yards of total offense overall and did not turn the ball over. 

Utah Tech's school record-tying six turnovers defensively were the most in the program's relatively new NCAA FCS era, and the most in over 12 seasons overall. 

The Trailblazers last forced six turnovers in a home win over Western Oregon (24-10; 9/8/12) during the 2012 season, and turned the trick against WOU three years prior to that in a home win (31-23; 10/10/09) in the 2009 campaign.

Four of those forced turnovers were interceptions, including two second-quarter picks by true freshman defensive back Brady Sorenson. Sophomore DB Scooter Jackson picked off his first collegiate pass in the first quarter, while Smith's pick sealed the Blazers' win.
 
The Blazers' four interceptions tied for the second-most in program history, and tied for the most in Utah Tech's FCS era.
 
Sophomore DB Quincy Lejay racked up a team and career-high 12 tackles to go with a fumble recovery and a pass breakup. Utah Tech also collected a season-high nine tackles for loss, including 2.5 TFLs from freshman linebacker Rick Mua'e, and two more by Whalen. 

UCA was held to 322 yards of total offense on the afternoon, though Hale did manage to run for 140 yards and two touchdowns. McElvain passed for 181 yards and a touchdown, but was touched up for those four interceptions. 
 
After playing for 10-straight weeks, Utah Tech will finally get to enjoy a weekend off next week. Following their bye, the Trailblazers will close out their 2024 home slate by hosting UAC newcomer West Georgia on Senior Day Saturday, Nov. 16. Kickoff inside Greater Zion Stadium is set for 2 p.m. (MT).