by Kent, OH- It was a Week 10 “MACtion” matchup between the 3-4 Bowling Green Falcons and the 2-5 Kent State Golden Flashes who both came in with a 1-2 conference record. It would also mark the first trip to Kent for former Ohio State heisman winner Eddie George who is off to a solid start in his head coaching career.
In the end, it would be a massive comeback from Kent State who scored 21 unanswered points to come up with a 24-21 win. With a 21-3 lead by the Falcons to start off the second half, it looked all but over for the Golden Flashes, but that was far from the case.
“We started off slow. We did everything wrong in the first half that you could think of.” Head coach Mark Carney said following the win.
Not only was it a solid start to the season for George and Bowling Green which included a key win over Toledo. But it was also a solid start to today’s game. After a three and out by Kent State, the Falcons responded with a 9-play, 61-yard touchdown drive to go up 7-0. It would be third string quarterback Baron May getting a 13-yard pass to tight end Jacob Harris to cap off the drive. It is also important to note that this was May’s first start of the season, and Bowling Green’s third different starter in just eight games.
The struggles would continue for Kent State who had more punts (3) than they did first downs (2) on their opening three drives. But the Golden Flashes would start to move the ball finally on their fourth drive of the game. Two bad drops by receivers Cade Wolford and Wayne Harris would kill the momentum for major points, but they were able to settle for a 35-yard field goal from Will Hryszko to make it a 3-7 game with 6:12 left in the first half.
By the end of the first half, it felt like there was almost no energy at Dix Stadium as Bowling Green went on a 15-play, 75-yard drive taking off 5:47 off the clock. It would be Austin Dendy capping off the drive making it a 14-3 lead at the half.
The Falcons game plan was clear, to run the ball. As they dominated in that category rushing 24 times for 102 yards in the first half alone. Dendy was leading the way with 10 carries for 44 yards and his touchdown. While Chris McMillan tallied up 4 carries for 23 yards.
Not much would change to start off the second half. Following yet another Kent State three and out, Bowling Green responded back with a 13-play, 75-yard drive taking 6:13 off the clock. It was May himself taking it up the middle for a one yard touchdown run, putting the Falcons up 21-3.
But kudos to Kent State who refused to quit despite the score. The Golden Flashes would respond back in a big way, scoring 14 unanswered points on back-to-back drives to completely change the game around. It would be a 29-yard touchdown pass by Dru DeShields, and a 45-yard touchdown run by Gavin Garcia to make it a 17-21 game in the third quarter.
DeShields led the offense for the day going 13-for-22 for 160 yards and the one touchdown pass. He would even rack up 5 carries for 26 yards.
The momentum would continue for Kent State as the defense held Bowling Green to no points on three straight drives which included a missed field goal from the Falcons. The offense would continue to back up their defense by putting together a 7-play, 62-yard drive making it 21 unanswered points for the Golden Flashes.
With just over 3 minutes left in the game, Kent State would have a 24-21 lead. It was all thanks to a wild 12-yard trick play between two receivers for a passing touchdown by Da’Realyst Clark and Harris on the receiving end of it. “I was hungry. I wanted them to get it back to me the very next play,” Harris said about his touchdown drop earlier in the game.
With essentially one last big chance for Bowling Green they needed at least a field goal to keep the game going. But it would be the Golden Flashes in the end getting a big 4th down stop to force a turnover on downs.
The Falcons got a quick stop themselves and defense forcing a Kent State punt. With two timeouts left and 42 seconds left to play, Bowling Green failed to come up with anything. Both starting quarterbacks exited due to injury on each of their final drives, and the Golden Flashes held onto the 24-21 win.
