Zips rebound, beat Kent

A full house enjoyed Akron's 24-19 triumph over the Golden Flashes.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
KENT -- After being walloped 51-0 by Virginia last week for their third straight loss, Akron and quarterback Charlie Frye were not about to be denied a much-needed turnaround Thursday night against rival Kent State in the Mid-American Conference opener for both teams.
Frye fired a pair of first-half touchdown passes to wide receiver Domenik Hixson to spearhead Akron's 17-7 lead, but the Zips had to summon their defense to deny a Kent State comeback behind quarterback Joshua Cribbs.
The Zips hung on to preserve a 24-19 victory before the second-largest crowd ever at Dix Stadium -- 25,186 fans.
Akron (1-3, 1-0), which moved into a share of the MAC East Division lead with Miami), needed some good fortune in the waning seconds to salvage its win and regain the Wagon Wheel Trophy from Kent State (1-3, 0-1).
What happened was the Golden Flashes recovered an onside kick with about 40 seconds remaining on the Akron 45, but were penalized for not having at least four players on one side of the ball at the time of the kickoff.
"We were told that four people were not lined up on one side of the ball," KSU first-year coach Doug Martin said. "You have to have at least four players on either side of the ball. Then we were told we had four people, but not at the time of the kick."
Frye dislocates finger
Frye, who dislocated the little finger on his right throwing hand on the first play of the game, hit Hixson on TD strikes of 35 and 8 yards in the first and second quarters, capped by Jason Swiger's extra-point kicks, to give Akron a 14-7 halftime lead.
Frye, who played with pain throughout the game, finished 17-for-29 for 178 yards and one interception. Hixson had six catches for 85 yards, while Brett Biggs led the Zips' ground game with 82 yards in 20 carries, including a 33-yard scoring dash.
"Frye dislocated his finger but played through it," said first-year coach J.D. Brookhart of Akron. "It was a difficult game. We played it with a quarterback who had a shaky finger, playing with pain."
Frye said that injury kept re-occurring in the game and interfered with his passing,
"It threw my accuracy off," Frye said. "[The finger] went back out eight or nine times in the game."
Frye said he is glad he has Hixson for a receiver.
"I've grown to have trust in Hixson more and more and it builds my confidence in him," he said.
Hixson said he believes he and Frye click because they prepared well in the off-season.
"We threw a lot to each other and early in the season. We are familiar with each other. Preparation helped and we have good timing," Hisxon said.
Brookhart lauded his defense for saving the game.
"We created a new attitude on [the defensive side] of the football," Brookhart said.
Cribbs is sparkler
Cribbs turned in a strong second-half display and accounted for 280 net yards. He was 23-for-40 passing for 179 yards and one TD to Darrell Dowrey Jr. covering 4 yards, and rushed for 101 yards in 21 carries and one TD on a 5-yard dash.
Dowrey Jr. also scored another TD on a 66-yard punt return in the second quarter, capped by Travis Mayle's placement, for KSU's first-half points.
Swiger's 36-yard field goal in the third quarter boosted Akron's lead to 17-7 before the Zips repelled two KSU drives to the Akron 1-yard line, and then the 22-yard line after Mayle missed a 37-yard field goal attempt.
But the Golden Flashes went the distance on its next series when Cribbs scored on a 5-yard run in the fourth to cut Akron's lead to 17-13. However, Mayle's placement was blocked.
And after Brett Biggs scored on a 33-yard run for Akron and Swiger kicked the placement for a 24-13 lead, Cribbs connected to Dowrey Jr. on a 4-yard scoring pass to cut the gap to 24-19 after the conversion pass was blocked.
Martin said Cribbs became more aggressive in the second half and took the game to Akron.
"Josh probably played more conservatively in the first half. The second half he really played well," said Martin, blaming penalties for hampering his team.
''Another thing was penalties on wide receivers," Martin said. "We had big gains called back. Penalties hurt us a couple of time down there [near the goal] especially in the first half. But when you get down there you have to make the play."
kovach@vindy.com