The Bowling Green Falcons (3-4, 2-1) defeated the Kent State Golden Flashes (0-7, 0-3) Saturday afternoon at Doyt Perry Stadium.
Bowling Green secured the win over Kent State with a final score of 27-6, with the Falcon’s defense in peak form, as they allowed only 204 yards and forced three turnovers.
Head coach Scot Loeffler highlighted the defensive effort from the game. Kent State had 750 passing yards in the past two games combined; Bowling Green held them to 78 yards today.
“If you would have told me in week eight that I would have looked at the list of the guys that have played if you told me that some of those guys would have been on the field, I would have laughed,” said Loeffler. “We did a great job; there were a lot of people that stepped up in terms of being able to walk into some really tough spots.”
Here is how the game played out:
Both the Falcons and the Golden Flashes defenses start off the game hot as they force each team’s offenses to stall out early on. Sophomore outside linebacker Myles Bradley came up with a sack early on, hoping to spark some momentum for the Falcons.
From the Falcon’s one-yard line, junior tight end Harold Fannin Jr. led the Falcons down the field with two impressive back-to-back catches for a combined 48 yards.
Fannin’s first catch for 32 yards allowed him to break the Falcon’s all-time yards for a tight end. This allowed junior kicker Zach Long to kick a 32-yard field goal to give the Falcons a 3-0 lead.
The Golden Flashes wasted zero time driving down the field as redshirt senior Ky Thomas gets two impressive rushes for a combined 50 yards to get into Bowling Green territory. However, the Falcon’s defense held strong as they forced junior kicker Will Hryszko to kick a 37-yard field goal to tie the game at 3-3.
The Falcons wasted little time getting those points back as senior quarterback Connor Bazelak threw a 50-yard touchdown to senior wide receiver Malcolm Johnson Jr. to give the Orange and Brown a 10-3 lead.
Bowling Green’s defense continued to contain the Golden Flashes offense as time expired in the first quarter with a score of 10-3.
The second quarter started with the BG offense continuing to march down the field with the offensive trio of Fannin, Johnson, and junior running back Terion Stewart getting the Falcons in the red zone.
Bowling Green eventually stalled out in the red zone as they were once again forced to kick a 25-yard field goal by Long to get a 13-3 lead early on in the second quarter.
The Golden Flashes had a very long drive, which allowed them to get into scoring position. Hrysko made a 30-yard field goal to make the score 13-6 with just 2:46 left to go in the half.
Bazelak and the Falcons played late-half heroics as they got down the field into scoring position with less than a minute to play in the half. This allowed for redshirt freshman quarterback Lucian Anderson III to punch it in for the Falcons for a 20-6 lead with just 23 seconds left in the first half.
The main story of the first half was the defense of Bowling Green. The Falcons pass coverage was phenomenal, only allowing 40 yards on four completions. Yet the Golden Flashes’ run game was phenomenal in its own right, getting a hefty 123 yards against the Orange and Brown.
The half started as the Falcons took a gamble going for it on fourth down near mid-field. The gamble, however, did not pay off as junior defensive end Kameron Olds sacked Bazelak at the Kent State 42-yard line as the Falcons turned it over on downs.
There was not much action in the third quarter as both defenses forced multiple punts from both offenses.
Bazelak led his offense down the field into the red zone as time expired in the third quarter. The Falcons had excellent field position to end the quarter and hoped to score quickly to start the fourth.
The Orange and Brown did not take advantage of the field position as they missed a 48-yard field goal to start the fourth quarter.
BG’s defense forced a turnover early on in the fourth quarter as sophomore cornerback Edward Rhambo had a toe-tapping interception, which gave the Falcons possession at their own 37-yard line.
Bowling Green took advantage of the turnover as Bazelak’s passing touchdown to senior running back Jamal Johnson gave the Falcons a 27-6 lead with just 6:32 left in the game.
The Falcon’s defense got their second turnover of the quarter as senior safety Patrick Day got Bowling Green the ball back.
Senior cornerback Todd Bumphis got Bowling Green’s third turnover of the day and his first-ever interception as a Falcon.
With this win, Bowling Green now moves to 2-1 in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and is one win away from getting back to .500 on the year.
The Falcon’s next matchup is against the Toledo Rockets at the Glass Bowl at 3:30 p.m. in the Battle of I-75. Falcon Media Sports Network’s Rhys Patrykus and Sean Connelly have the call.
