Premature cannon fire caused ETSU to miss an extra point in season opener
Week 1 is all about shaking off the rust. Even if you're a cannon operator.
We’ve all had bad days at work, but usually, those days don’t entail firing a cannon too early and causing a kicker to miss an extra point.
That is unless you were the poor, unfortunate cannon operator (cannoner?) in Thursday night’s matchup between East Tennessee State, the No. 11 team in the FCS, and Division II Mars Hill. The Bucs easily won against the lower division foe, cruising to a 44-7 win.
But they could have scored 45. After their first touchdown of the night, a pyrotechnic mishap led to the cannon on the sideline — which was supposed to fire a blank after ETSU made the extra point — fired immediately before the Bucs snapped the ball, leading to a bad hold and an ultimately missed PAT from kicker Tyler Keltner.
Oof.
Luckily for the individual manning the cannon, it didn’t prove to make a difference in this one. It seems first-game rust doesn’t just apply to the personnel on the field.
At least East Tennessee State got its artillery malfunctions out of the way before it begins Division I competition next week.