Sports
Ohio Football defends the Frank in final home game of the season
By: Donovan Varney
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — On Tuesday night, Ohio Football (7-4, 5-2 MAC) hosted the newest member of the MAC, UMass (0-11, 0-7 MAC), for their final home game of the season. A severe weather warning delayed kickoff by 15 minutes, but that didn’t stop Sieh Bangura from having a historic night. Bangura’s performance helped lead the Bobcats to a 42-14 victory.
Despite it being the Minutemen’s first time in Peden Stadium since their 58-42 loss in 2018, the UMass offense opened the game with an impressive first drive. A roughing the passer penalty on third down kept the drive alive for their offense.
Across midfield, quarterback AJ Hairston scrambled for a 19-yard gain to set the Minutemen up on the 20-yard line. Hairston went down with an injury after the rush and was replaced by Brandon Rose.
Rose completed the drive for UMass with a 10-yard passing touchdown to Owen Anderson to take an early lead.
Ohio had only two people touch the ball on their first drive: Parker Navarro and Sieh Bangura. The Bobcats’ first three plays would have resulted in a punt, but a late hit out of bounds on Bangura’s third down rush would give them another opportunity.
Seven plays later, a two-yard rush to the left would put Ohio on the board and tie the game at seven a piece. Despite not completing a pass for positive yardage on their opening drive, the Ohio offense rushed for 57 yards.
The Minutemen offense stalled on their second drive after the Ohio score. The Bobcat defense’s pass rush forced Rose to fumble the ball, and Pius Odjugo recovered the ball at the Ohio 40-yard line.
Into the second quarter, Ohio turned the ball over on downs, and the Minutemen took over with the ball at the 30-yard line.
The Bobcat defense picked up right where they left on defense. UMass lost a total of 17 yards in three plays after a 14-yard sack by Anas Luqman forced them to punt.
Ohio’s offense took over at the 46-yard line. Their first three plays put them half a yard short of the line to gain, but a four-yard rush by Duncan Brune gave them the first down.
A 29-yard rush by Brune put Ohio’s offense in good field position before being pushed back 10 yards on the next play because of a holding call.
With a long way to the first down marker, Navarro completed his first pass for positive yardage with a 19-yard completion to Eian Pugh on the sideline. On the next play, Duncan Brune hurdled a Minutemen defender and rushed it in from 13 yards out to give Ohio their first lead of the game, 14-7.
The next drive for the UMass offense was only going backwards until Rose’s pass was intercepted by Jack Fries at the 31-yard line. It was the first career interception for the redshirt junior linebacker.
Ohio’s next drive had Bangura’s name all over it. Four straight rushes by the redshirt senior set Ohio up at the three-yard line before the game entered its second delay of the night with 3:52 left in the first half.
“I didn’t think that [the delays] really affected our guys mentally. I thought they handled it well. I thought the staff handled it well,” head coach Brian Smith said after the game.
On the first play after the delay, Bangura scored a three-yard rushing touchdown. After the extra point, the Bobcats took a 14-point lead.
Bangura’s touchdown added him to the Ohio Football history books. He hit the 1,000 yard mark on the season, making him the fifth player in Ohio history to have two seasons with at least 1,000 rush yards.
“I put a lot of work in with this whole team, so to do this here back in Ohio, it feels great,” Bangura said.
UMass sent their offense back on to the field with just over three minutes left in the first half. The Minutemen made their third change at quarterback on the night after subbing in Grant Jordan for Brandon Rose. Something Smith said they were prepared for.
“All three played throughout the season, so there was film on all of them. We kind of were aware of what their ability was,” Smith said. “I don’t think it really affected our plan or attack.”
Jordan completed three passes for 25 yards in his first drive of the game. Minutemen kicker Derek Morris attempted a career-long 55-yard field goal at the end of the drive but missed short.
Ohio started their next drive with only 55 seconds left on the clock and turned the ball over on downs after Navarro was sacked on a risky call fourth-and-2 that Smith wanted back.
“There was just bad execution on the play,” Smith said. “That was a situation, you know, hindsight, maybe we should have punt.”
The UMass offense came on to the field with 29 seconds left. As the clock expired for halftime, Ohio was penalized with unnecessary roughness.
The Minutemen were awarded an untimed down and elected to kick a 47-yard field goal, but missed wide left. Ohio went into the locker room with a 21-7 lead.
Navarro entered the break two for six passing with 17 yards, while adding 38 yards and one touchdown on the ground. Bangura and Brune combined for 138 yards and two touchdowns.
Their opening drive was cut short after a 22-yard scramble by Navarro on third down was fumbled and recovered by UMass. Their offense took over on the Ohio 48 yard line.
After two straight third down conversions the UMass offense found themselves inside the Ohio 10-yard line. On second down Jordan evaded pressure after the pocket collapsed and threw a nine-yard passing touchdown to Elijah Pedro to cut their lead down to seven.
On the next drive, Ohio’s offense responded. Bangura exploded for 61 rushing yards and capped the drive off with a two-yard rushing touchdown on fourth down to go up 28-14.
Bangura’s big drive helped set his career-high in single-game rush yards with 149 at that point.
The third quarter concluded with each team punting the ball away on the final two drives.
The Bobcats scored two more times in the fourth quarter. Navarro rushed one in from four yards out for his second of the night, and Brune had a one-yard rushing touchdown just before the two-minute mark.
Navarro was replaced at quarterback by Nick Poulos following a Tank Pearson interception on defense. In his final game at Peden Stadium, Navarro finished the night with a career-low 28 passing yards. This comes after he posted just 70 yards the week before against Western Michigan.
“I’ve got to be better,” Navarro said. “It starts with me. I’ve just got to continue to see what I see and take the easy ones.”
In addition to becoming the fifth player to record multiple 1,000-yard rushing season with Ohio, Bangura also became the fifth player in Ohio history to rush for over 3,000 yards in their Bobcat career. He finished the night with a career-high of 196 rush yards and two touchdowns.
The trio of Bangura, Brune and Navarro each scored a pair of touchdowns on the night. It was the first time since 2018 Ohio has had three players score multiple touchdowns in a game.
Ohio’s win puts them one step closer to securing a spot in the MAC championship game. The Bobcats will hit the road for their final regular season game of the season against Buffalo on Nov. 28.