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MOREHEAD, Ky. – Junior quarterback
Austin Gahafer accounted for all four touchdowns, and the Morehead State defense registered five takeaways in shutting out Kentucky Christian 28-0 in front of 9,176 fans in the home opener at Jayne Stadium Saturday night.
The Eagles improved to 1-2 and recorded the program's first shutout since blanking KCU 67-0 in the 2011 season opener. The Knights slipped to 0-3.
"It is always great to get that first win, and that is important for our team," said Head Coach
Rob Tenyer. "KCU put up a great fight. I knew they presented us some problems on film. We really shot ourselves in the foot a number of times. It came down to third downs tonight, we have to be much better there. But our defense was great tonight. It feels good to get the first shutout for this staff."
Morehead State was just 3-of-13 on third down chances, but the defense only allowed 208 yards and scooped up four KCU fumbles to go along with one interception.
Gahafer, who was 21-of-36 for 174 yards, completed touchdown tosses to senior wideouts
Tanner Napier,
Justin Cornwall and
Kitaro Lewis and also rushed in from three yards out for the Eagles' first score in the second quarter. MSU led 7-0 at the half and added seven in the third and 14 in the fourth.
Freshman running back
Brent Holman tallied a career-best 90 yards on the ground on 16 carries.
Defensively MSU totaled nine tackles behind the KCU line of scrimmage and had six pass breakups. Junior defensive end
Dustin Casey collected two fumble recoveries, and sophomore wide receiver
Christian Robinson collected a pair on muffed punt catches by the Knights.
Freshman defensive lineman
Jamil Butler led the way with a career-best eight stops, while leading tackler
Eric Pugh had seven, including two for a total of 33 yards in losses. The Eagles are now +5 in turnover margin in three games.
KCU got a game-best 131 yards rushing from Gregory Walker, but its two quarterbacks were just 12-of-32 for 43 yards.
Gahafer scored on the third play in the second quarter for a 7-0 lead, and then Napier's tally pushed it to 14-0 with 1:34 left in the third. Cornwall hauled in a 23-yard scoring strike at the 10:10 mark of the fourth, and Lewis, who missed all of 2014 with an injury, garnered his first TD of 2015 with 4:04 remaining.
Morehead State opens Pioneer League play at home next Saturday versus Davidson. Kickoff time is 1 p.m. ET.
"Hopefully our fans had a great time tonight, and they'll be eager to come back next weekend. Once again, I want our team to continue to improve each week. It will be important to start off PFL play strong," said Tenyer.
