Recordpub.com - Flashes back in MAC East title hunt

By David Carducci

Record-Courier staff writer

ATHENS — Kent State forced itself into the thick of the Mid-American Conference East Division race with a convincing 20-11 win over Ohio University Saturday at Peden Stadium.

The victory moved the Golden Flashes (4-4, 3-1) into a second-place tie with Ohio (5-3, 3-1), one game behind Temple in the East standings with four games remaining in the regular season.

The way in which they notched the victory suggested the 2009 Flashes may finally be ready to change the fortunes of their long-suffering program.

Two weeks ago, Kent State suffered a heartbreak by blowing a big fourth-quarter lead to Bowling Green. In the final five minutes of the loss, KSU players seemed like they were either afraid or didn’t know how to make plays with a game on the line.

On Saturday, the Flashes enjoyed another late two-possession lead. But this time they decided to keep up their assault into “winning time.”

“Games like that Bowling Green loss don’t come around very often,” said KSU linebacker Cobrani Mixon. “When they do, you have to learn from them ... We learned from that game.”

Instead of sitting back passively in soft coverage the way they did against Bowling Green, Saturday’s Flashes challenged the Ohio offense to make a play. It never did.

The Bobcats’ offensive line that had gone five games without surrendering a single sack watched KSU pass-rushers haul down quarterbacks Theo Scott and Tyler Tettleton seven times — and four of those were in the game’s final seven minutes.

“I guess we changed that stat,” said KSU safety Brian Lainhart.

Kevin Hogan recorded 21⁄2 sacks and Monte Simmons added 11⁄2 as the Flashes twin edge-rushers continued their midseason resurgence.

Ohio’s longest play of the game was just 24 yards. It’s first third-down conversion arrived near the nine-minute mark of the fourth quarter, and its deepest penetration without the benefit of a Kent State turnover was the Flashes’ 43-yard line — again on a fourth-quarter drive.

“I think their biggest gain all day long was in the first quarter when I intercepted a pass and fumbled it,” said Lainhart.

Jordan Thompson’s 41-yard return of Lainhart’s fumble gave his team a first-and-goal at the KSU four. But building on the memory of a goal-line stand at Eastern Michigan last week, the Flashes’ defense rallied to hold the Bobcats to a 22-yard Matt Weller field goal. After taking the early 3-0 lead, Ohio only managed one more score — a LaVon Brazill 87-yard punt return with 2:18 to play in the fourth quarter. By then, the game had already decided.

The Flashes held Ohio’s offense to just 164 yards all day, including negative-9 rushing yards to set a KSU school record. It was a different defense than the one that surrendered more than 500 yards to both Bowling Green and Miami University earlier this season.

“I think they got tired of being sick and tired,” said KSU head coach Doug Martin. “They are still stinging from that Bowling Green game a little bit, and I think emotionally, they’ve gotten themselves back to playing the type of defensive football we are should play around here.

The Bobcats defense entered the game as the nation’s leader in forced turnovers. Kent State matched them turnover for turnover, intercepting Scott twice before the Ohio quarterback was removed from the game due to illness. Tettleton was picked off by KSU safety Dan Hartman at the goal line on a key third-quarter play that answered the only interception of the game thrown by KSU true freshman Spencer Keith.

Just like his defensive teammates, Keith played his best football down the stretch, tossing a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown passes to fellow true freshman Tyshon Goode — a 3-yard lob to go ahead 13-3 with 10:14 to play and a 15-yard slant to seal the win with 7:02 remaining.

Goode’s second scoring play — a beautiful diving catch at the goal line — was set up by his own leaping 30-yard grab just one play earlier.

The back-to-back connections by Keith and Goode continued the attacking theme. Instead of trying to run out the clock with a two-score lead after Ohio had failed on a fourth-and-inches just inside KSU territory, the Flashes’ offense trotted back onto the field and started slinging the football.

“When you play a team that plays (man-coverage) like they do, you have to throw the ball over their head,” said Martin.

Keith finished with a 273 yards on 23-for-38 passing, connecting nine times with Goode for 105 yards. Sophomore Sam Kirkland also enjoyed a career day with five catches for 80 yards.

The success in the passing game was set up by Jacquise Terry’s big second half. The sophomore back piled up 82 of his 110 rushing yards after the break.

“Our motto is ‘attack,’” said Terry. “We promised ourselves we would learn from the Bowling Green game when we didn’t make plays down the stretch ... We kept attacking.”

KSU and Ohio were tied at 3-3 when Terry changed the game with several long runs in the third quarter. His 31-yard jaunt set up the second Freddy Cortez field goal of the day — a 26-yarder with 5:14 to play in the third to put the Flashes ahead for good at 6-3.

Since the humbling loss to Bowling Green, Kent State has now battled back with two straight wins on the road.

“This was a great team win by our guys,” said Martin. “I’m not sure we are great in any area, but we are really good together. We are playing really good team football right now in all phases. Our guys have a real belief in each other, and it showed in this game. We beat a real good football team.”

The Flashes will take that belief into a meeting with Western Michigan next week at Dix Stadium.