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MOREHEAD, Ky. – Morehead State University football scored 60 points for the first time since the 2000 season en route to a decisive 61-10 season-opening win over Southern Virginia Saturday night at Jayne Stadium.
The Eagles (1-0) racked up 490 yards of total offense and were stifling on defense, allowing the Knights just 171 total yards and only 16 on the ground. MSU registered five sacks, 13 tackles for loss, two interceptions and forced four fumbles.
“Eagle football is our defense creating opportunities and it did that tonight,” MSU coach
Matt Ballard said. “We played a lot of people and got a lot of experience. That will pay off for our players when we prepare for our next game.”
MSU scored four touchdowns and a safety in the first quarter, striking first on a sophomore
Desmond Cox 10-yard rush following a Southern Virginia fumble. Senior safety Henry Hudson jumped a route on SVU’s first play of the next drive and ran it in to put the Eagles up 14-0. Junior quarterback
Evan Sawyer pushed the lead to 21 with a 15-yard scoring run on MSU’s next drive.
Sawyer, who split time with junior
Jared Phillips and freshman #J.D. Tanner#, was 7-of-14 for 96 yards and two touchdowns, one through the air and one on the ground. Phillips was 8-of-14 for 131 yards with two passing touchdowns and 33 yards on the ground. Tanner saw limited action in the fourth quarter, but was a perfect 2-for-2.
Southern Virginia (0-2) quarterback Sam Trulock was already handcuffed, starting a drive on the two-yard line when junior Josh Ballard and sophomore
Tony Bachman swarmed him in the end zone for a safety. A four-yard Sawyer pass to senior Jerrod Pendleton on the next drive pushed the MSU lead to 30 at the end of the first quarter.
Phillips got his turn to drive the Eagle offense in the second quarter and came away with a 10-yard pass to freshman
Donte Sawyer for the Eagles’ fifth touchdown. The Knights cracked the scoreboard five minutes later with a field goal by David Haws, but MSU freshman kicker #Rainer Duzan’s# first field goal re-established the 37-point margin for halftime.
Southern Virginia struck first in the second half, scoring its only touchdown of the game on a 33-yard reception by Brad Schultz, who slipped under the MSU secondary, caught the lob pass and scooted into the end zone. Freshman
Mychael Sawyer caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Phillips and freshman
Winston Bodrick rushed for another score for MSU. In all the Eagles had 247 yards through the air and 243 on the ground.
“The key for us is to have balance and diversity,” Ballard added. “I want to be as 50-50 as we can in our play selection and 243 and 247 is almost there. I loved our balance and when we run effectively we’ll be able to use all of our weapons.”
Bodrick only carried the ball six times, but he racked up 81 yards, averaging 13.5 per carry with a score. Cox was MSU’s other workhorse, tallying 10 carries for 72 yards and a score.
Duzan missed his first collegiate kick, a first quarter field goal attempt, but he was perfect from that point on, kicking eight extra points and a 29-yard field goal.
The win marked Morehead’s largest margin of victory since the 2000 season. It also is the third straight season-opening win for the Eagles, the first time since 1998-2000 MSU has rolled of three straight.
The Eagles travel to St. Francis next Saturday to face the Red Flash in a non-conference game in Loretto, Pa. Kick-off will be at 1 p.m.
