MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE Leftwich's 4 TD aerials spark Marshall to title

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Byron Leftwich got up from a hit that sparked a fight to throw two late touchdowns, including a 40-yard connection with 49 seconds left, as Marshall beat Toledo, 49-45, in the Mid-American Conference championship game Saturday.
Leftwich went 32-of-42 for 404 yards and four TDs to overshadow the four rushing touchdowns by Toledo red-shirt freshman Trinity Dawson, who finished with a career-high 130 yards.
The game was marred by a third-quarter fight that started when Leftwich took a late hit from linebacker David Gardner after an interception.
Marshall lineman Steve Peretta then went after Gardner, and Toledo lineman Lantz Jeudy retaliated against Peretta.
Several Toledo players rushed onto the field and players from both teams exchanged shoves before order was restored.
Gardner was called for a personal foul. Peretta and Jeudy were ejected.
The hit didn't to bother Leftwich, who already was slowed by a shin injury sustained a month ago.
Leftwich, who has 4,019 passing yards this season, became the conference's all-time leading passer Saturday with 11,654, surpassing the 11,299 yards set by Tim Lester from 1996-99.
Marshall (10-2) won its fifth championship since rejoining the league six seasons ago. The exception was last year, when Toledo won 41-36 after trailing 23-0.
Toledo (9-4) fell behind again Saturday, trailing 14-0 in the first quarter and 28-10 late in the second.
And again, the Rockets came back.
Toledo overcame a 17-point deficit behind Dawson, who had second-half TD runs of 2, 10 and 2 yards to go with a 37-yard jaunt in the second quarter.
The lead changed six times in the second half.