Sports
Parker Navarro struggles in Ohio Football’s 17-13 loss to Western Michigan
By: Andrew Bowlby
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KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOUB) – Midweek MACtion always delivers great games with great circumstances. For Ohio Football (6-4, 4-2 MAC) and Western Michigan (6-4, 5-1 MAC), they met on a frigid Tuesday night in Kalamazoo as two of the top teams in the conference.
Western Michigan scored the game-winning touchdown early in the fourth and salted away the clock prevailing 17-13 and improving to 5-1 in conference play.
“We’re just sticking together, that’s the number one thing,” Ohio running back Sieh Bangura said. “Get ready for UMass next week, keep our hopes up.”
Ohio’s offense took the field first and after a Bangura carry of 26 yards to start the game, things looked good. But just a few plays later, Parker Navarro made a bad read and threw an interception to Tate Hallock who returned the ball to the Ohio 33-yard line setting WMU up.
Although Ohio was off to a tough start, the Bobcats are 12-2 in games when Navarro throws an interception, including 10-straight victories.
The Broncos offense ran three plays but only for five yards and had to settle for a field goal attempt. Palmer Domschke made his ninth field goal of the year from 46-yards out to open the scoring, 3-0 WMU.
On Ohio’s next drive, Navarro nearly threw another interception on a pass that was completed to Chase Hendricks. However, on a third down play later in the drive he was sacked and the Bobcats punted.
WMU went three-and-out on their next drive. It was capped on a great play by Ohio defensive lineman Jay Crable who started the play spying Broc Lowry but then chased him down and forced an incompletion.
Ohio began to get their offense going on the next drive with Navarro leading the charge. On a broken play from the three-yard line, he dove across the goal line giving Ohio a 7-3 lead.
Western’s next drive lasted 7:26 and made it deep into Ohio territory, however, Domschke sent a 26-yard field goal attempt off the left upright keeping Ohio ahead by four.
For the rest of the first half, neither team was able to generate much on offense while both had opportunities.
Western Michigan came out of the locker room and ran their first drive to perfection. The drive featured running back Jalen Buckley who rushed for 41 yards on the drive, including a handful of chunk plays. Ultimately, it was capped off with a touchdown by Lowry to give WMU the lead 10-7.
“I feel like the offensive line did their thing today, I got about four or five yards a pop,” Bangura said.
“I thought they did a lot really well,” head coach Brian Smith said on the offensive line’s play. “We were running the ball really effectively.”
The drive finished with 17 plays for 83 yards over 10:08. It was the longest drive of the season by both plays and time of possession for the Bobcats.
It felt like Ohio had taken the momentum and was in control to win the game, but it all change with one of the biggest plays of the season.
On a second-and-9 play from the WMU 26-yard line, Lowry completed a pass to Buckley that looked to be stopped after a few yards, but he was able to break free from numerous Ohio defenders and take the ball 71 yards to the Ohio three-yard line.
“It’s all on me, I missed the tackle,” Ohio safety DJ Walker said.
It was Western Michigan’s longest play from scrimmage this season and set up a three-yard score for Buckley that ended up being the game deciding touchdown.
Ohio’s offense had a few changes late but they couldn’t find an answer and the team dropped its fourth road game this season.
The offensive woes can be seen clearly through the play of Ohio’s quarterback. Navarro struggled for a second-straight week and just didn’t have answers to the Western pass defense. He finished the game 8/19 passing for just 70 yards. While he did make a handful of plays with his legs, it just wasn’t enough.
“The MAC’s a crazy conference, so you never know how it’s going to work out,” Smith said. “Our focus is on getting better.”
The Bobcats are now one of the handful of MAC teams with two losses and will need help to get back to Detroit and the MAC Championship game.
They will host their final home game of the season next week against UMass at 7 p.m.
For now, they’ll be paying close attention to MACtion games Wednesday night that will have a say in the Bobcats’ season.