Sports
Ohio Football Wins First Game Of Season In MAC Opener
By: Bryan Kurp
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AKRON, Ohio (WOUB) — Ohio found itself trailing 10-3 with 16 seconds left in the first half.
Kurtis Rourke threw a pass to the back of the end zone for Isiah Cox. Cox made a diving catch but the pass was ruled incomplete. After replay review though, the call was overturned. Cox did in fact stay in bounds — and it was a Bobcats touchdown.
Ohio’s offense operated as smoothly as it has all season long from that point on.
The Bobcats, led by the rushing attack of Armani Rogers and De’Montre Tuggle, scored in every second half possession. Ohio (1-4, 1-0 MAC) put up a season-high point total with a 34-17 win over Akron (1-4, 0-1 MAC).
“That was the best two quarters I’ve seen in a long time. Dynamic,” Tim Albin said following his first win as Ohio head coach. “I’m happy for the players.”
“That’s a straight running Frank Solich game right there. It was a physical ballgame and that’s how this program was built.”
29 of the Bobcats’ 31 plays in the second half were run plays — Ohio rushed for 235 yards total.
Tuggle rushed for a career-high 201 rushing yards on 17 carries, including a 26-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.
“It’s amazing,” Tuggle said after he heard his final yardage total postgame. “Big shoutout to my line and the receivers — those guys were blocking their tails off today.”
Fifth-year quarterback Armani Rogers rushed for 83 yards with two second-half touchdowns.
Rogers played a vast majority of the second half after Kurtis Rourke got the start and led the offense for much of the first half.
Rourke completed seven of his 12 pass attempts for 56 yards with a touchdown and an interception, but Rogers came in and moved the offense down the field efficiently.
“Adjustment wise, we were having trouble protecting Kurtis. He was getting bumped around,” Albin said. “This is what we needed to do. It worked out.”
The Bobcats showed much improvement on the defensive side as well.
Ohio held the Zips to just 112 yards on the ground and came up with seven sacks of quarterback D.J. Irons.
“We just knew that we had to just play harder,” Ohio fifth-year defensive end Will Evans said. “Keep putting it on Akron. Just keep playing harder and those were the results.”
Evans finished the day with two sacks for Ohio and five tackles.
Cannon Blauser also accounted for two sacks. Bryce Houston, Kai Caesar and Denzel Daxon also picked up sacks in the contest.
The Bobcats’ three-game road trip is over and it ended on a positive note. The Bobcats also started MAC play the right way and look to keep the momentum moving forward.
“Right now we’re 1-0,” Evans said. “We’re basically coming to feed off each week.”
Ohio returns home to host Central Michigan (2-3, 0-1 MAC) next Saturday. The homecoming game between the Bobcats and Chippewas will kick off at 3:30 p.m. at Peden Stadium.