BOX SCORE
ST. PAUL,Minn. -- In a contest that literally was decided with nine seconds remaining, Morehead State football went back and forth before finally falling 35-28 at preseason PFL favorite St. Thomas Saturday at O'Shaughnessy Stadium.
In the first meeting between the league schools, the Tommies got two big pass plays in the final minute, including a 26-yard game-winner with nine seconds left. The Eagles came close to ending the nation's longest college football home winning streak (28 games).
Morehead State led 7-0 at halftime, fell behind 14-7 early in the third quarter, but answered the home team touchdown for touchdown until the final seconds. MSU slipped to 1-2 and 0-1 in the PFL, while UST moved to 2-2 and 1-0 in the PFL.
Quarterback
Carter Cravens threw for 295 yards and two touchdowns, while running back
Caleb Ramseur had a career-best 74 yards on the ground and scored a game-tying 16-yard TD on fourth down with 1:52 remaining that tied the battle 28-all.
The Eagles took the 7-0 lead with just 1:04 left before halftime as
Kyle Daly hauled in a 24-yard pass from Cravens - his second TD catch this fall.
The Tommies opened the second half with a 61-yard TD jaunt by Shawn Shipman and a blocked punt return for a score to go ahead 14-7. But, Cravens and receiver
Caleb Tillman connected on a nine-yard score at 6:33 of the third. That followed a 33-yard one-handed catch by Tillman to get his team in scoring range.
Shipman busted another long TD run - 71 yards - as UST jockeyed in front again, 21-14. But, the Eagles matched 84 yards on 10 plays, and Ramseur finished it off with a three-yard TD dive to once again tie it, at 21-21.
The fourth period began with a two-yard TD pass for the hosts. MSU's defense held tough though and allowed the Eagles a chance. Ramsuer looked to be bottled up on a fourth-and-1 play with 1:52 left but bounced off tacklers and raced to the corner pile-on.
Nathan Hazlett's PAT had the game tied again at 28-all.
St. Thomas appeared to be running the clock down for overtime, but a 31-yard catch put it in scoring range, and QB Tak Tateoka tossed the winning score to Jacob Wildermuth as the clock ticked under 10 seconds.
Besides Cravens' and Ramseur's totals, Daly had the Eagles' first 100-yard receiving game this year with 107 on six catches.
Ryan Upp also had 73 yards on four catches.Â
Jahleel Homes and
Keenan Wolf led the defense with nine tackles each (Holmes with two TFLs as well), and
Jihad McCall had MSU's first interception of the season. Morehead State did not suffer a turnover. Â
The Eagles return home for the next two weekends. Drake visits for a 2 p.m. ET game Saturday.
