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MOREHEAD, Ky.—Things looked bad for Morehead State football after St. Francis returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Luckily for the Eagles,
Zach Lewis came to play.
Lewis was one yard shy of the school record for passing yards in a game, throwing for 458 yards and four touchdowns to lead Morehead State to a 31-21 non-conference win over visiting St. Francis Saturday at Jayne Stadium.
“I had no idea he was one yard from it,” MSU coach
Matt Ballard said. “If I had known that we might have done something else to try to get him the record because if there’s anyone that deserves it, he does. But guess what. He’ll have plenty of opportunities.”
Lewis completed his first 14 passes and four of his receivers had four or more catches, including seven by
Donte Sawyer. Sawyer led the Eagle receivers with 96 yards.
“It was a great day for the Eagles all the way around. It was a tremendous thing the way [Zach] responded from a week ago. I’ve always said Zach raises the level of our football team,” Ballard said. “He was really sharp, he had great reads and he threw the ball with authority and confidence.”
Even with Lewis’ prolific game, it took a defensive stand in the fourth quarter to ensure the win.
Jerome Raymond, the reigning PFL Defensive Player of the Week, and
Mark Hall came up with a pair of sacks late in the fourth quarter to stall a Red Flash drive and maintain the 10-point lead. They were MSU’s only two sacks of the day.
“I’ve always said it doesn’t matter what happens between the 20s, but when you get down there and its crunch time you’ve got to find a way, you’ve got to have a gut check and play with your heart. The big guys step up in big moments and make big plays,” Ballard said.
It was the fifth win in six tries by MSU over the Loretto, Pa.-based school and it avenged a 31-0 loss at St. Francis last season, the Red Flash’s first-ever win over the Eagles. It also marked the first win of the season for Morehead State, now 1-1. St. Francis fell to 0-2.
“It was a great team victory for the Eagles with the way we played as a whole unit. Our football team took a big step today. I’m proud of how we played. It was a well-played, sound fundamentally technical football game,” Ballard said.
Kyle Harbridge made the first 15 seconds rough on the Eagles, taking the opening kickoff up the near sideline for the quick game-opening score. It got worse for MSU on the ensuing drive when three rushes failed to go 10 yards and the Eagles had to punt.
But after the home defense stalled the Red Flash, Lewis took over. He completed five straight of 11 yards or more on MSU’s second drive, finding Sawyer on the right side of the endzone for a 13-yard touchdown pass. It capped a nine-play, 86-yard drive and tied the game at seven.
The Red Flash retook the lead after Sawyer fumbled a St. Francis punt and the visitors got the ball on MSU’s 20-yard line. SFU quarterback John Kelly completed a six-yard toss to Omar Winston to push the Red Flash up 14-7.
MSU’s leading rusher with 11 carries for 48 yards,
Desmond Cox ripped off a 24-yard run in the waning minutes of the first quarter to ignite the first of two second quarter scoring drives. Lewis capped a nine-play, 69-yard drive with a touchdown pass to
Adam Slupski, the sophomore’s first catch as an Eagle.
The Eagle special teams then created another spark when Hall blocked a St. Francis field goal attempt and MSU took over on the 25-yard line. Lewis promptly marched the offense downfield, completing a 30-yard pass to
Ronnie McDermott and a 39-yard scoring throw to
Jaison Yoshimura.
Morehead State threaten again at the end of the half with a two-minute drill drive, highlighted by a 35-yard pass from Lewis to McDermott that got the Eagles inside the SFU 10-yard line. Lewis made his first mistake of the day though, throwing a floater that Luke McConnell pulled down in the endzone for an interception.
Lewis bounced back after halftime and found Slupski in the end zone again, this time to cap a three-play, 67 yard scoring drive to open the second half. Lewis got a 33-yard reception from Cox and was helped by 20 yards in SFU penalties before hooking up with Slupski on an 11-yard scoring toss that extended the MSU advantage to 14.
St. Francis tried to mount a comeback in the third quarter, pinning the Eagles deep in their own end and forcing a punt that gave the Red Flash the ball on the Morehead State 44 yard line. A trio of short plays followed by a 29-yard touchdown pass to Winston pulled SFU within seven.
After Eagle kicker
Rainer Duzan added a 24-yard field goal to start the fourth quarter, St. Francis began marching down field, moving from their own 25 yard line and were facing a second down and one situation on the MSU 11 yard line with under four minutes to play when Hall and Raymond’s sacks drove the Red Flash back to the 36 yard line. Kelly’s pass into the endzone on fourth and 26 fell incomplete and the Eagles took over with a clock-killing drive.
“That’s the way we went about our business this past week in our preparation,” Ballard said. “That was the key this week. We had an outstanding week in prep and practice and the only thing left was to come out and play with your heart and your gut.”
Harbridge had 16 carries for 61 yards and the Red Flash totaled just 62 yards on the ground Kelly was 20-34 with two touchdowns for 162 yards and Winston was his favorite target, making six catches for 63 yards.
Lewis nearly broke a 22-year old record held by former Eagle quarterback Chris Swartz. Swartz threw for 459 yard in a 43-6 win over Austin Peay in 1988. The Eagles racked up a total of 512 yards of offense, the most since the Eagles had 608 yards of total offense in the Pioneer Football League game against San Diego in 2005.
Tony Bachman led the Eagles with 13 tackles. Raymond had 11 tackles, including two tackles for loss for 11 yards.
Morehead State hits the road for its Pioneer Football League opener next week, playing at rival Dayton. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 pm.
