ATHENS — Shane Bonner's interception return for touchdown provided the spark needed to help the Ohio Bobcats to earn a Senior Night win over the Central Michigan Chippewas 34-20 on Wednesday night.
Bonner's big play came on CMU's third possession of the game, as quarterback Jase Bauer dropped back and fired a pass towards Jalen McGaughy, but Bonner was able to avoid a cut block, put his hands up to bat the ball, catch it on the fly and race 21 yards into the end zone to give Ohio a 10-0 lead and swing the momentum in favor of Bobcats for the rest of the night.
Quarterback Kurtis Rourke capped off his final game at Peden Stadium by completing 16 of 24 passes for 222 yards, ran for a touchdown and caught one pass for seven yards.
Sieh Bangura carried the ball 21 times for 126 yards to lead all rushers in the game. Fellow running back O'Shaun Allison had two 1-yard rushing scores in the second and third quarters to help pad the Bobcats lead.
Ohio's defense turned in another solid effort, coming up with two turnovers and stopping the Chippewas on two fourth down attempts.
The biggest of the two defensive stops came in the second quarter with Ohio (8-3, 5-2 Mid-American Conference) still leading by 10. CMU opted to go for it on fourth-and-one at the Bobcats 13, but Marion Lukes was stuffed for no gain and the scoring threat was thwarted.
Ohio would take advantage of the stop on their ensuing possession, as quarterback Kurtis Rourke lead the Bobcats on an 8-play, 87-yard drive. The graduate student quarterback made several key pass completions to three different receivers during the drive to set up Allison's first touchdown run and give Ohio a 17-0 lead.
Central Michigan (5-6, 3-4) kept things close with two long touchdown passes of 50 and 62 yards, as Bauer hit Tyson Davis and Chris Parker as they got behind the defense on missed assignments in coverage.
Bauer completed 10 of 21 passes for 157 yards to go along with his two touchdown throws. Lukes lead Central Michigan's rushing attack with 75 yards and a scored on a 14-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
The win snapped a six-game losing skid to Central Michigan, with the last win coming during the 2011 season.
Ohio will wrap up their regular season next Friday (Nov. 24) at Akron.
C. Michigan 0 7 7 6 — 20
Ohio 10 7 14 3 — 34
First Quarter
OHIO—G.Spetic 39 field goal, (9:49). OHIO—S. Bonner 21 interception return (G. Spetic kick), 6:19. Second Quarter OHIO—O. Allison 1 run (G. Spetic kick), 8:19. CMU—T. Davis 50 pass from J. Bauer (T. Mattson kick), 4:38. Third Quarter OHIO—K. Rourke 16 run (G. Spetic kick), 10:34. CMU—C. Parker 62 pass from J. Bauer (T. Mattson kick), 9:40. OHIO—O. Allison 1 run (G. Spetic kick), 4:11. Fourth Quarter CMU—M. Lukes 14 run (kick no good), 14:18. OHIO—G. Spetic 33 field goal, 6:07.
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CMU OHIO
First downs 13 21
Total Net Yards 319 377
Rushes-yards 33-162 41-148
Passing 157 229
Punt Returns 1-0 1-7
Kickoff Returns 7-126 2-39
Interceptions Ret. 0-0 1-21
Comp-Att-Int 10-21-1 16-24-0
Sacked-Yards Lost 2-11 3-13
Punts 4-43.0 4-43.5
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties-Yards 10-63 8-85
Time of Possession 22:51 37:09
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING–Central Michigan: M. Lukes 15-75, M. Bailey 4-54, B. Emanuel Jr. 5-35, J. Bauer 9-minus 2; Ohio: S. Bangura 21-126, T. Walton 2-20, O. Allison 10-13, K. Rourke 5-13, Team 3-minus 24.
PASSING–Central Michigan: J. Bauer 10-21-1-157; Ohio: K. Rourke 15-23-0-222, M. Cross 1-1-0-7.
RECEIVING–Central Michigan: C. Parker 1-62, T. Davis 2-57, D. Temple 2-31, L. Marion 3-13, J. Prewitt 1-4, T. Pannuzio 1-minus 10; Ohio: M. Cross 3-53, S. Wiglusz 3-51, W. Kacmarek 3-44, T. Foster 2-29, T. Walton 3-27, C. Hendricks 1-18, K. Rourke 1-7.
MISSED FIELD GOALS–Ohio: G. Spetic (43).
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