CHARLESTON, S.C. -- In spite of turnover-driven defensive effort and a near-sellout Parents' Weekend crowd, The Citadel (2-3, 0-2 SoCon) faltered in the program's Southern Conference home opener against (RV) ETSU (3-2, 1-0 SoCon), dropping a closer-than-the-final-score 34-17 decision to the Buccaneers Saturday evening at Sansom Field at Johnson Hagood Stadium.

KEY NOTES
-- Johnathan Bennett closed out the contest 17-of-31 for 187 yards through the air with one touchdown along with one interception, a late pick six; the graduate transfer added 30 yards on the ground with 12 carries as well
-- Corey Ibrahim led the running back corps with 11 carries for 48 yards, falling short of the goal line on second down only to surrender the lone rushing score to graduate student Garrison Johnson, who tallied a pair of handoffs for 11 yards total
-- For the first time this year, Tyler Cherry paced the wide receivers as a unit, pulling down two major catches for 69 yards and the solo touchdown; Cooper Wallace picked up three receptions for 44 yards while Dervon Pesnell registered five total catches for 33 yards as well
-- Defensively, The Citadel compiled four total turnovers on the day with Dominick Poole, Giovanni Ricciardi and Cale Williams each recording an interception while Chris Iverson scored credit for a key fumble recovery deep in ETSU territory; Thomas Wyatt set the tone 11 total tackles -- seven solo with four assists -- and 2.5 tackles-for-loss while Poole tacked on six of his own with a half a tackle-for-loss
-- James Platte put in another week of solid work in the field position game, averaging 50.5 yards on six punts; Ben Barnes contributed a field goal plus a pair of PATs as well