Sports
Ohio seeks second-straight home win against Morgan State
By: Joshua Jacob
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – Ohio football is looking toward Morgan State with the hope of keeping their win streak alive.
The Bobcats had a thrilling victory winning 27-20 against South Alabama, showing plenty of improvement from their first game.
Quarterback Parker Navarro was the driving force behind the win throwing for 204 yards and rushing for 62 yards. He ended the game with two touchdowns. He wasn’t alone though with running backs Anthony Tyus III and Rickey Hunt Jr. collecting 74 and 73 yards respectively. Head coach Tim Albin spoke on the balance of the offense.
Sophomore Chase Hendricks was on the field extending plays. On just four receptions he accumulated for 65 yards. He also had the only receiving touchdown of the game emphasizing his great performance.
The Bobcat defense stepped up at the line of scrimmage allowing just 114 rushing yards with five tackles for loss and a sack. Tim Albin commended the defense’s performance while also leaving room for improvement.
“Looking at the numbers we can tackle better I mean I think the stats that we keep it was a little over 40 yards at Syracuse as far as on missed tackles and it was pushing 100 the other night,” Albin said. “I mean you miss one tackle and it’s a 40-yard run that can rack up pretty quick, but we can tackle better”
Injuries continue to be a hurdle for the Bobcats and Coach Albin isn’t shy about it.
“I think we have you know eight guys on crutches right now so um you know that it is what it is next man up mentality that’s what we’re going to do um you know we went through it last week and we’re going to be going through it this week,” Albin said.
Morgan State is coming off a tight 9-14 loss against the Towson Tigers. In this game, however, the bears showed their affinity for the pass.
Quarterback Tahj Smith was getting it done through the air with 163 passing yards. His main target was JJ Davis who had four receptions for 41 yards. The Bear’s only touchdown was scored by Joseph Kennerly on a 74-yard play.
Gearing up for this matchup Coach Albin spoke on the importance of not overlooking this FCS team.
“I mean an inch difference between our level and Morgan State. I’ve been here long enough, and we have had some unbelievable games here in my time particularly here in the last you know five or six or seven [years],” Albin said. “We’ve had some great comebacks to win some of those right so I anticipate a great matchup”
Ohio’s next-man-up mentality will be tested when they kickoff against Morgan State on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.