GOLDENFLASHESTV: Humphrey's late touchdown returns Wagon Wheel to KSU

Friday, November 28

Kent, Ohio

1:00 p.m.

Kent State University

2-9 , 1-6

University of Akron

5-7 , 3-5

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Akron

Kent State

GOLDENFLASHESTV: Humphrey's late touchdown returns Wagon Wheel to KSU

11/28/2014 5:24:00 PM | Football

Box Score

PHOTO GALLERY

KENT, Ohio – The Wagon Wheel has returned to Kent State University.

A lunging catch of a 5-yard touchdown pass by Chris Humphrey with one minute remaining in his final game at Dix Stadium lifted the Golden Flashes to a 27-24 victory over the University of Akron in Saturday's rivalry battle.

Colin Reardon lofted the ball to the senior wide receiver in the left corner of the end zone, capping a 10-play, 77-yard drive. The march answered a long touchdown run by Akron's Jawon Chisholm, who gave the Zips their first lead of the day with 4:30 to play.

"No matter what, we were going to get it done by any means necessary," said Kent State head coach Paul Haynes. "A lot of guys stepped up and made plays. They never gave up and kept believing."

After Kent State carried a 13-7 lead into halftime, Akron seized the momentum by controlling the football in the third quarter. The Zips finally jumped ahead on the scoreboard at 24-20 late in the final quarter when Chisholm raced 80 yards for a touchdown – his third of the day adding to runs of 2 yards in the first quarter and 41 yards in the third.

But Humphrey insisted the Flashes never had a doubt they would reclaim the Wagon Wheel as the offense took the field for the final time.

"It was nothing but positive energy," said Humphrey, who caught nine passes for 123 yards in his farewell. "(Akron) took something we wanted that is ours. We got it back. There was nothing that was going to stop us on that last drive."

On the final third-down throw from the Akron 5, Humphrey had a feeling the ball was coming his way.

"Once I saw the ball in the air, I knew I had to make a play," he said. "I couldn't have written it any better … The ball was high. I was looking up. Being a wideout, you practice getting your foot in. I knew I was getting close to the line. I got the ball and just tried my best to get that foot down."

After a short review of instant replay, referee Greg Blum announced that the touchdown had been confirmed. All that remained for Kent State was holding Akron's offense from coming up with an answer of its own.

On the very next play, Jordan Italiano intercepted a tipped pass by Akron quarterback Kyle Pohl. With 54 seconds to play, all that remained was two kneel downs by Reardon and a race for the Wagon Wheel that was waiting behind Dix Stadium's south goal post.

"Words can't describe how that felt," said Humphrey. "It meant the world to me. It let the seniors go out on a good note … and it meant we got the win for (Haynes). He is the most passionate guy I have ever met in my life for Kent State."

Fellow senior Casey Pierce caught six passes for 81 yards, including a 19-yard touchdown pass from Reardon that gave the Golden Flashes a 20-10 lead with 11 minutes to play in the third quarter.

"This game meant everything to me," said Pierce, who clutched the Wagon Wheel all through the post-game press conference. Had the Flashes lost, the tight end said he would have "tried everything to forget this season. But this game gives us something to talk about in years to come. I'm proud to have this wheel. I want it to stay here year after year and to never leave."

The comeback provided a happy ending to an often painful season that began with the unexpected death of starting center Jason Bitsko. After Saturday's win, the Flashes gathered around Bitsko's No. 54 that is painted between the 30 and 25 yard lines on the southwest side of the field.

"Jason is always there," said Haynes. "That's why we went to that 54 at the end. I can see that smile on his face right now."

The win also provides the younger Flashes with something to build on heading into 2015.

Sophomore running back Nick Holley helped the Flashes to their early lead, scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run with 10:50 on the first-quarter clock. He tacked on a 24-yard scoring run, breaking a 7-7 tie later in the quarter.

Redshirt freshman Demetrius Monday made that lead stand up going into halftime, jumping a route for an interception of Pohl at the Kent State 5-yard line just before the break.

Monday said Haynes, who always stressed the importance of preparation, talked all week about needing to do even more during rivalry week, "so we studied a little bit more and got that extra time in," said Monday. "It got to a point where we knew what (Akron) was going to run."

Chisholm finished with a career high 184 yards on 19 carries. The Zips passing game struggled, however, as Pohl threw for 191 yards while completing 17-of-42 attempts.

With the exception of the Chisholm touchdown, Kent State controlled the fourth quarter. Take away the 80 yard run and the Zips gained just eight yards in the final 15 minutes as Kent State ran 35 plays to Akron's 10.

Reardon completed 28-of-45 for 298 yards and one interception to go with his two scoring throws.

"This win sets this program up for the future," said Pierce. "(Haynes) is going to be the one to turn it around because he truly cares. It's going to be a great future."

Kent State completed its season at 2-9 overall and 1-6 in Mid-American Conference play. Akron closes the season at 5-7 and 3-5 in MAC games.

Postgame Notes

The Flashes held a halftime lead for only the second time this season and improved to 15-0 since 2012 when leading at halftime.

Sophomore Nick Holley scored his third and fourth touchdowns of the season (second & third rushing) in the first quarter. Holley matched his career-high of 95 rushing yards on 14 carries.

Senior defensive lineman Marcus Wright and freshman defensive back Jerrell Foster became the 23^rd and 24^th different Kent State players to get their first career start this season.

Senior Casey Pierce moved into sole possession of eighth place in career touchdown catches at Kent State with 11. Pierce made three or more catches in 12 straight games and has made two or more catches in 18 straight games. In his last five games, Pierce has made 37 catches for 382 yards and five touchdowns. Pierce holds Kent State's record for catches in a season by a tight end with 60. He caught his team-leading sixth touchdown of the season and fifth in his last five games.

Sophomore Steve Nagy made his first career catch.

Senior Chris Humphrey matched his career high of nine catches. In his last two games Humphrey made 17 catches for 255 yards and three touchdowns. Humphrey finishes in fifth place in career receptions at Kent State with 128. His touchdown catch with a minute to play was his fourth of the season.

Sophomore Colin Reardon moved into a tie for sixth place in career TD passes at Kent State with 25. His 298 yards passing were the second most of the season

Midway through the second quarter, Kent State held an advantage 191-50 in total yards.

Sophomore Nate Holley has led the Flashes in tackles in 10-of-14 career starts. He hit the 10-tackle mark for the eighth time this season.

Eight seniors who spent five years in the program (Malcolm Pannell, Casey Pierce, Calvin Tiggle, Richard Gray, Nate Vance, Eli Sayre, Terrell Johnson, Andrew Horning) finished their careers 4-1 vs. Akron

Since first playing for the Wagon Wheel in 1946, Kent State leads the series 23-20-1

Junior Jordan Italiano had his second interception in as many games and third of the season. He ended the season with 96 tackles

Sophomore Elcee Refuge wore a No. 8 jersey in honor of teammate Calvin Tiggle, who was unable to play on his Senior Day with an injury

PRESS CONFERENCE

Postgame Quotes

Wide Receiver Chris Humphrey: (On touchdown) It was a set play. Going through the reads I heard them check to 6. I had a feeling I was getting the ball. Nothing but positive energy on the final drive, nothing was going to stop us.

Cornerback Demetrius Monday: Before we came out of the huddle we said we needed to make a play and we came out in the right coverage which was man-to man and we got it done. Coach said to us whatever we have been doing we got to step it up because this is a rival game.

Tight End Casey Pierce: That Akron running back running for the big touchdown was the definition of our season, but we said no we're not going to go end like this it was our turn. This sets up next season for the guys, I have so much faith in them. I just ask when they go bowling can I come. For me this game meant everything it was either down the road I want to forget about this season because I'm such a competitor but this game gives me something to talk about with these guys because Chris' catch all of a sudden becomes odellbeckhams catch because he is going to pump it up and say remember that. We want to set up the future because the future is bright here at kent state. Coach relates to the players real well and he can relate to a losing season he was a player so he relates to us well. He wants to turn it around because he really cares he's not just here to pump himself up and get on to the next one he is here for the well being of Kent state he wants to see everyone do well here.

Running Back Nick Holley: The offensive line did great today, it's easy to run the ball when nobody is touching you. You can make one cut and then you're almost gone.

Akron Coach Terry Bowden

Its a rivalry game, and that's the way rivalry games are played. First of all hats off to Kent State, they came out and made more plays than we did at the end. They made the plays to win the game, and they deserve to take that wagon wheel home with them, and that's the hardest part. But that's part of the game. We took it last year, they took it this year, and I'm proud of the way our players fought to come back. We got behind in the beginning, came back got ahead, just needed one more stop, and Kent state was not going to be denied. So great rivalry game, only bad because we came out on bottom

Yeah we had points there. We missed a field goal, we missed a pick there. They missed a couple of field goals, they missed a short yardage, so when you start analyzing all the could of, should of, would of, there was enough to go around. The fact is it probably ended up 27-24, about all those kind of evened out. The biggest they just had one more drive than we did. It's a tough way to end but again its just part of football.

Well the last one did did what we needed to do. The offense had to come back, had to put points on the board, as it was going down to the wire, and we knew that may very well have been our last drive, and defense preceded that with a huge 4th down stop came back with that huge touchdown run, and you would hope that would do it. But again have to give credit where credit is due, they would not be denied they came back scored the length of the field.

Well we'll go back and dissect anytime you got a close loss. You go back and look at all the little things like that, but again our program will grow from that. Our season won't be better, our season won't be as good, but our program will grow and our players will grow from that and that's the most important thing you know. You didn't step backwards, but you didn't step forward today and as a program, there is something to be said from that. But you want to continue to step forward so we'll grow from that loss.

It really is and I'm so proud of them. So many times when you transition one coaching staff to another your seniors are the first to be let go, and they're the first people to get run off and we try not to run people off. Many of those guys are from JD Burkhart, from those days, at least committed to him, and came through, but they came through. We had a lot of them and they played hard, and I would want it mostly for them. We'll see better days and better games at Akron, but I wanted more for them, but I still believe that the seniors that are a part of this program now have really established themselves as putting Akron on footing with anybody in the conference. We can lose to anybody I guess, on a given day, but we can beat most teams on a given day too. So lot of these seniors I give a lot of credit to them. They will look back at their time at Akron as very fulfilling, I would believe

Well you know I've been in so many rivalries. This one you would think, how can the Kent State-Akron game be as big as Auburn-Alabama or West Virginia-Pitt or Florida? It is, I mean the proximity of the two schools, I think just how passionate these players learn it is to these guys, maybe because the seasons aren't as good as you'd like, and this game really defines and makes something special. But it is a special rivalry. It hurts to see when those other guys line up. It hurt just like we did when we lined up and ran and got it for us. It hurts for us, we have to watch them go line up and run and get it.