Sports
Ohio Football: Bobcats unable to convert on final drive
By: Bryan Kurp
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MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — The Bobcats and Chippewas were neck-and-neck all game long on Wednesday night. It actually came right down to the final possession for the Bobcats.
The Bobcats got the football back when Jarren Hampton made a critical stop of Central Michigan’s Kobe Lewis on a 4th down & 1 play. Kurtis Rourke and Ohio’s offense took over on its own 33 yard line with 2:10 left.
After a penalty advanced the ball up the field a bit, Rourke connected with Ryan Luehrman for an eight-yard gain to move the ‘Cats inside Central Michigan territory. The very next play, Rourke found O’Shaan Allison for a 13-yard pass play.
Things looked as if they continuing to look better for Ohio when Rourke tucked the ball and carried it down to the Central Michigan 12-yard line, but a holding call moved the Bobcats back out of field-goal range.
Ohio was unable to bounce back and eventually turned the ball over on downs.
“We were really getting ourselves field goal range right then and there,” Ohio head coach Frank Solich said. “We were actually obviously not just go for field-goal territory and try a field-goal. We were trying to get seven on the board and win it. We just put ourselves in a long-yardage situation again and wasn’t able to get back into at least into field-goal range.”