Freshman running Asa Chatman rushed for a career-high 101 yards and two touchdowns to help lead Utah Tech to a thrilling 34-33 overtime victory over North Alabama in United Athletic Conference play on Saturday afternoon at Greater Zion Stadium. 
 
The game was shaping up to be an offensive slugfest at the start as both teams combined for 30 points in the game's first 12 minutes.
 
North Alabama (2-7/1-4 UAC) received the opening kickoff and marched 87 yards in eight plays, scoring the first points of the day on a 31-yard touchdown scramble by Lion quarterback Destin Wade.
 
The Lions lined up for a two-point conversion, but Wade's pass into the end zone fell incomplete as UNA settled for the early 6-0 advantage. 
 
Utah Tech (2-7/1-4 UAC) responded with a touchdown of its own on its opening drive when Bretton Stone took the Bronson Barben hand-off and raced up the middle untouched for a 35-yard score. Ilya Uvaydov added the extra point and the Trailblazers enjoyed their first lead of the game at 7-6.
 
Stone's touchdown was his first of the season and the longest scoring run of his career, while the Utah Tech offense racked up 60 yards on the ground overall on its opening possession.  
 
UNA clapped right back thanks to a 78-yard kick-off return from Justin Luke, which set the Lions up at the Blazer 22. The Lions needed only needed only four plays from there to jump back on top at 13-7 thanks to a Jalyn Daniels 11-yard run.
 
The Trailblazers counter-punched their way back to the lead, and needed only two plays to do it, thanks to a Daniel Thomason 66-yard touchdown catch and run. Barben lofted a ball to his senior receiver, who adjusted to allow his defender to blow by him in making the catch. Thomason then weaved his away past three Lions over the final 32 yards to win the race to the end zone with 6:06 to play in the opening frame.
 
Utah Tech followed that by going into its bag of trick and executed an onside kick, recovering the ball near midfield.

The Blazers managed to get one first down on the possession, but had to settle for a Uvaydov 50-yard field goal, which extended the Utah Tech lead to 17-13.
 
The defenses finally settled in from, with only three points going up on the scoreboard through the next two-plus quarters. 
 
Those points came off the right Uvaydov, who connected for a 27-yard field goal with just under four minutes to play in the second quarter, which spotted the Blazers with a 20-13 halftime cushion.
 
North Alabama broke the scoring drought with 13:12 left in regulation when after a Trailblazer turnover, Wade found his receiver Tanaka Scott for a 91-yard touchdown on the backend of a flea-flicker to knot the score at 20-20.
 
Then after a Utah Tech three-and-out, the Lions drove 70 yards in 12 plays and reclaimed the lead at 27-20 on a 2-yard Wade dive on a fourth-down read option play with 6:11 on the clock. 
 
The Trailblazers pulled even on their ensuing possession, which was kick-started by a 29-yard Barben-to-Eric Olsen completion on first down. On 3^rd-and-3 on the Lion 29, Chatman took the Barben handoff, and like Stone did earlier in the first quarter, went untouched up the middle to pay dirt for his first touchdown of the game with 4:06 remaining. 
 
The game progressed to overtime, where North Alabama struck first with a Wade 1-yard run. However Lion placekicker Chandler Dixon's point after try caromed off the left upright and bounded away, leaving UNA with a six-point lead.
 
Facing 4^th and 10 at the 25-yard line, Barben took the shotgun snap and found Thomason over the middle for a clutch 15-yard completion and a first down. Then on 3^rd-and-goal, Chatman blasted his way up the middle from 4-yards out for his career-high second rushing touchdown. 
 
Uvaydov came on and split the uprights for the extra point to lift the Blazers to the dramatic home victory, which snapped the team's four-game skid.
 
Utah Tech tallied a season-high 491 yards of total offense on the day, which included a UAC season-best 219 of those yards coming on the ground. Stone finished the day with a season-high 42 rush yards to complement Chatman's career day, while Barben ran for 35 yards, which was also a season high.
 
The redshirt freshman quarterback also threw for a career-high 272 yards on 19-for-30 passing. Meanwhile Thomason recorded his second career 100-yard receiving game, and Utah Tech's second of the season, as he caught three passes for a career-best 104 yards to go with his sixth-career touchdown. Utah Tech just missed having two receivers reach the century mark as sophomore Josh Rillos hauled in a season-high six balls for a career-high 89 yards, 61 of which came in the second quarter to set up Uvaydov's second field goal. 
 
On defense, freshman linebacker Moe Passi racked up a career-high 10 tackles, while fellow freshman backer Adrian Dahlene tallied eight stops with one tackle-for-loss and his first collegiate interception, which came late in the second quarter.
 
Wade wound up with 203 yards through the air on 14-for-32 passing, and an even 100 yards on 16 carries, and accounted for four of the Lions' five touchdowns on the afternoon.
 
After spending the last four weeks at home, Utah Tech will head out on its penultimate road trip of the 2025 season next weekend when the Trailblazers travel to the "Lone Star State" for a UAC road date at nationally-ranked Abilene Christian on Saturday, Nov. 8. Kick-off is slated for 1 p.m. (MT).