ATHENS — Despite a slow start, the Ohio Bobcats didn't disappoint its homecoming crowd on Saturday afternoon, as they blew away the Kent State Golden Flashes 42-17 at Peden Stadium.
"We played basically a very clean game. Both sides of the ball were like lights out on third down,"head coach Tim Albin said. "Defense is getting after the quarterback. We had several tackles for losses and we took care of the football."
Ohio's defense smothered the Golden Flashes in the first half, sacking quarterback Michael Alaimo four times and limiting them to just a single net rushing yard by halftime.
While the defense did their job, the offense did their part as well.
Kurtis Rourke completed 20 of 32 passes for 300 yards and three touchdown passes. The "Maple Missle" also used his legs on Saturday, with nine rushes for 26 yards and a score.
The recipient of two of Rourke's touchdown tosses was Miles Cross. The first time he and Rourke hooked up came in the second quarter on a 25-yard pass to open up the scoring. Gianni Spetic added the extra point to give the Bobcats a 7-0 lead.
Cross lead all Ohio (5-1, 2-0 MAC) receivers with 7 receptions for 125 yards — both game highs.
Kent State (1-5, 0-2) would respond with seven-play, 77-yard drive and tie the game up as Chrishon McCray would catch a 42-yard touchdown pass from Alaimo.
Later in the quarter, Wiglusz would make a one-handed catch on a 30-yard pass from Rourke and tumbled into the end zone for his second touchdown of the season. Spetic added the extra point and Ohio would lead 14-7 with 4:05 left in the first half.
The Bobcat defense would get a quick three-and-out and give the ball back to Rourke and the offense, who would waste little time getting back into the end zone again.
Rourke would cap off the five-play drive, by faking out a defender and running it in himself from four yards out to give Ohio a 21-7 lead at the half.
The Bobcats would pull away in the second half, as Cross would catch his second touchdown from Rourke to increase the Ohio lead to 28-10.
Running back Sieh Bangura would get back-to-back three-yard rushing touchdowns on consecutive offensive drives to balloon Ohio's lead to 42-10.
The Golden Flashes would get a late score as McCray would catch his second touchdown pass of the game from backup quarterback Tommy Ulatowski to make the final score 42-17.
Ohio will be off next weekend before traveling to Dekalb, Illinois, to take on Northern Illinois. Kickoff is at 4 p.m. on Oct. 14.
Kent State 0 7 3 7 — 17
Ohio 0 21 14 7 — 42
Second Quarter
OHIO — Miles Cross 25 pass from Kurtis Rourke (Gianni Spetic kick), 13:35.
KENT — Chrishon McCray 42 pass from Michael Alaimo (Andrew Glass kick) 11:20.
OHIO — Sam Wiglusz 30 pass from Kurtis Rourke (Gianni Spetic kick), 4:05.
OHIO — Kurtis Rourke 4 run (Gianni Spetic kick), 0:37.
Third Quarter
KENT — Andrew Glass 37 field goal, 12:18.
OHIO — Miles Cross 22 pass from Kurtis Rourke (Gianni Spetic kick), 9:13.
OHIO — Sieh Bangura 3 run (Gianni Spetic kick), 5:39.
Fourth Quarter
OHIO — Sieh Bangura 3 run (Gianni Spetic kick), 13:26.
KENT — Chrishon McCray 10 pass from Tommy Ulatowski (Andrew Glass kick), 9:57.
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KENT OHIO
First downs 16 24
Total Net Yards 228 466
Rushes-yards 36-109 35-166
Passing 119 300
Punt Returns 1-4 1-3
Kickoff Returns 6-133 1-16
Interceptions Ret. 0-0 1-0
Comp-Att-Int 11-20-1 20-32-0
Sacked-Yards Lost 0-0 6-27
Punts 3-34.333 6-35.833
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 5-46 7-70
Time of Possession 27:04 32:56
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING–Kent State: Thomas 24-67, Ulatowski 4-60, Garcia 1-0, Alamino 7-(minus 18); Ohio: Allison 11-27, Rourke 9-26 TD, Bangura 9-41 2TD, Quinn 3-7, Navarro 3-65.
PASSING–Kent State: Alaimo 9-13-1-107 TD, Ulatowski 2-7-0-12 TD; Ohio: Rourke 20-32-0-300 3TD.
RECEIVING–Kent State: McCray 6-93 2TD, Holmes 2-17, Floriea 1-5, Thomas 1-2, Gardner 1-2; Ohio: Cross 7-125 2TD, Bangura 1-19, Wiglusz 4-44 TD, Kacmarek 2-22, Hendricks 2-14, Walton 1-13, Butler 1-4, Foster 2-59.
MISSED FIELD GOALS–None.
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