Flashes Take Care of Business at Ohio

Saturday, October 23

Athens, OH

1:00 PM

Kent State University

4-4 , 3-1

Ohio University

1-7 , 1-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Kent St.

Ohio

Photo by: Mallory Neil

10/23/2021 5:26:00 PM | Football

Box Score

ATHENS, OHIO- The Golden Flashes' defense forced three turnovers and Dustin Crum led an efficient offense in a 34-27 victory over the Ohio Bobcats at Peden Stadium.

Crum totaled 350 yards of offense on the day, 257 through the air with a touchdown and 93 on the ground and a score. Marquez Cooper and Xavier Williams combined for another 110 yards and each had a score to pace the rushing attack.

Dustin Crum hit Dante Cephas on a 33-yard pitch-and-catch on the Flashes' first drive of the game to get Kent State on the board. Cephas topped the 100-yard mark again on Saturday, grabbing nine passes for 103 yards and that opening touchdown.

The Kent State defense would then take over as it continued its trend of forcing turnovers. The Flashes forced a trio of Bobcat miscues in the first half and added a turnover on downs on the game's opening drive. Twice the Golden Flashes stopped Ohio inside the red zone, getting a Mandela Lawrence-Burke forced fumble and a KJ Sherald interception in the opening 30 minutes. Lawrence-Burke led the Flashes with a season-high 14 tackles (7 solo), a tackle for loss, forced fumble and a quarterback hurry.

Kent State would turn the turnovers into a 31-yard Andrew Glass field goal pushing the lead out to 10-0, late in the first quarter. It would stay that way until late in the first half when the teams would exchange touchdowns. The Flashes answered an Ohio touchdown drive with an eight-play, 71-yard drive at the end of the half. Crum would call his own number on a four-yard option and made it a 17-7 game heading into the locker room.

Nykeim Johnson made his presence felt in a key third quarter. He had a career-high 86 yards on eight catches including several clutch grabs in the second half. He had a trio of big grabs on the opening drive of the second half, capped by a Xavier Williams 15-yard touchdown to make it 24-7 Golden Flashes. After an Ohio score, the Flashes continued to answer back, Cooper punched in a 15-yard run of his own to make it a three-score game once again at 31-14.

That proved to be enough, Ohio would score a pair of late touchdowns, but an Andrew Glass 27-yard field goal put the game out of reach. Isaac Vance ushered a late Ohio on-side kick out of bounds and the Flashes dropped into victory formation.

The win moves the Flashes to 4-4 on the season and sit atop the MAC East Division with a 3-1 record, Ohio falls to 1-7 overall and 1-3 in MAC play. Kent State now gets 10 days to get ready for a pair of mid-week MACtion games. First up is a home contest against the Western Division leading Northern Illinois Huskies on Wednesday, November 3^rd. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m. and will air either on ESPN 2 or ESPN U and the Kent State Radio Network.