Kent State University
North Carolina A&T State University
Football Home Opener Ends in Loss to NCA&T in 4th Overtime
9/11/2016 12:50:00 AM | Football
KENT, Ohio – Kent State watched its first home game of the 2016 season slip away in a fourth overtime when North Carolina A&T third-string quarterback Oluwafemi Bamiro lofted a 15-yard touchdown pass to Denzel Keys to complete a 39-36 upset of the Golden Flashes on Saturday at Dix Stadium.
The final play was set up by the fourth pass interference penalty against the Flashes after the six-minute mark of the fourth quarter. The first flag set up a 2-yard Tarik Cohen touchdown run for North Carolina A&T that sent the game into overtime.
"It was a tough loss," said Kent State head coach Paul Haynes. "We had our chances but we didn't play very well, especially on the defensive side of the ball. We had chances to make plays and didn't. Bad fundamentals are on a lot of it. We have to regroup."
The penalties and other mistakes on defense allowed the Aggies to convert a string of key third-and-long situations late in regulation and in the extra sessions.
"John Wooden said it best. How do you handle criticism and how do you handle praise?" Haynes asked. "Everyone praised us for playing well at Penn State and we still got our (butts) kicked. Then…we come out here and let a team we should beat hang around. We have to learn how to handle praise."
Kent State led 10-0 at halftime behind a Shane Hynes 20-yard field goal in the first quarter and a 27-yard touchdown pass from freshman Mylik Mitchell to senior tight end Brice Fackler in the second.
After the Aggies battled back to tie with, Fackler put the Flashes back on top at 17-10 by staying with a ball that was tipped twice by North Carolina A&T defenders in the end zone and making a lunging grab.
"I was just Johnny on the spot," said Fackler, whose two touchdowns were the second and third of his career. "I was going to tackle their guy. I thought he had already picked it…I saw (the football) there and I grabbed it. I was just lucky."
Mitchell finished his first start at quarterback for KSU with 182 yards on 17-for-32 passing. Fellow freshman Justin Rankin led the Flashes' rushing attack with 37 yards on 13 carries, including a 10-yard touchdown run in the second overtime.Â
Kent State was out-gained 407-to-275 as Cohen rushed for 133 yards on 24 carries and added another 125 yards on nine carries to lead the Aggies in both categories.
The Flashes host Monmouth at 3:30 p.m. on Varsity "K" Hall of Fame Day Sept. 17.
Postgame Notes
Senior Najee Murray made his first career interception in the first half and recovered a fumble in the second half.
After two sacks, senior Terence Waugh has 12.0 sacks in his last 12 games played. He finished the game with 11 tackles.
Senior tight end Brice Fackler caught passes of 23 and 27 yards on back-to-back plays, including his second career touchdown in the first half. He brought that total to three touchdowns in the second half.
Senior linebacker Elcee Refuge recovered a fumble for the second time in as many games. The fumble was forced by sophomore safety Juantez McRae. Later in the first half, McRae made his second career interception.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Mylik Mitchell and sophomore defensive lineman Kalil Morris made their first career starts. Mitchell finished with three touchdown passes.
Freshman Kavious Price had a 51-yard kick return, the Flashes' longest in the last two seasons.
The Flashes' defense forced four turnovers. Â
Senior Nate Holley was the Flashes leading tackler for the second straight game with 12 stops.
The four overtime periods were the most in program history
Weather delayed kickoff time by two hours and 10 minutes.
Amanda Sauer served as head referee, becoming the first female in Dix Stadium history in that role.
Kent State's Game Captains were Nick Cuthbert, Elcee Refuge, Brice Fackler and Ernest Calhoun.
Postgame Quotes
Tough loss, we had chances but we didn't play very well. Especially on the defensive side of the ball, had a chance to make plays but we didn't. Bad fundamentals on a lot of it, we've got to regroup and get back. Â It's one of those things where you say how do you handle criticism and praise, everybody praised us for playing well on Penn State, but then we let a team that we should beat, sit there and hang around. And I'm done getting praised for losing. We didn't handle praise well this week.
(On Mylik Mitchell in the pocket)
He's a young quarterback, there's a lot of reads he probably missed. He's got to learn to stay in the pocket more and take his reads.
(On NC A&T defense against the running game)
They were doing a lot of twists. They'd bring two or three guys off the edge that hurt us.
Brice Fackler
(On first long catch) I had one guy on me and I just beat him, and Mylik threw a great ball to me.
(On tipped touchdown) It was just luck, I was actually going to tackle the guy because I thought they were going to intercept it.
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NC A&T Coach Rod Broadway
(Initial thoughts on the win)
It's a big win for us but you hear me say all the time, every win is a big win.We have to go home and there's a lot of things we need to work on there's a lot of things we need to improve on. We gave up entirely too much.But I'm proud of our guys and their effort and the guts that they played with to win this ballgame.
Play of Bamiro
He was able to make some plays, enough for us win and we'll take that and move on.
(Last touchdown pass to Denzel Keyes)
We have a saying, in critical times, think players instead of plays. He's one of our better and we try to get the guys in there that we trust and Denzel has that trust.
(On Tarik Cohen)
He's special, it doesn't matter who he's playing against. He's a big time player and he makes people miss.Â
(What win means to the program)
That's big. It's the first time we've beaten an FBS school. And to do it in four overtimes.
