Mid-American conference football | Saturday’s games

N. Illinois 17, Kent St 14

DEKALB, ILL.

Northern Illinois ran its home win streak to 28 games while picking up its 24th straight Mid-American Conference win. The Huskies (4-1, 1-0) needed a late defensive stand to preserve the win. Colin Reardon (Poland) scored from the 2 midway through the fourth quarter, then found Casey Pierce with a two-point conversion pass that cut the Northern Illinois lead to three points. Jordan Italiano (Canfield) then picked off an Anthony Maddie pass to give the Golden Flashes the ball at their own 39. Reardon drove Kent State to the NIU 34, but the drive stalled and a 56-yard field goal attempt by Anthony Melchiori fell short for a touchback. Reardon was 20-of-36 for 244 yards and carried eights for 26 yards and a touchdown for Kent State (0-5, 0-1).(backslash) Maddie was just 7 of 10 for 105 yards, but added 48 yards on eight carries.

Akron 31, E Michigan 6

AKRON

Kyle Pohl threw for 326 yards with two touchdowns and ran for a third, leading Akron past Eastern Michigan. The Zips (3-2, 1-0) erased an early 6-0 deficit and surged ahead in the second half as Conor Hundley scored on a 28-yard run. Pohl threw touchdowns of 24 yards to L.T. Smith and 15 yards to Anthony Ritossa to make it a rout. Smith finished with 10 receptions for 117 yards and Zach D’Orazio had 8 for 87. Pohl was 27 of 40 and had the Zips’ opening touchdown, a 5-yard run to put Akron ahead for good late in the first quarter. Rob Bolden had 185 yards passing with a touchdown and two interceptions for the Eagles (1-4, 0-1). He hit Tyler Allen for an 18-yard score on Eastern Michigan’s opening drive, but couldn’t muster up anything else.

Cent Michigan 28, Ohio 10

MOUNT PLEASANT, MICH.

Thomas Rawls ran for a career-high 229 yards and two touchdowns while Titus Davis had 181 yards receiving and two scores for Central Michigan. The Ohio offense went three-and-out on its first two possessions while Central Michigan (3-3, 1-1) used drives of 77 and 68 yards, both of which were capped by touchdown passes from Cooper Rush to Davis, to take a 14-0 lead. With 33 seconds left in the half, Ohio’s Kylan Nelson recovered a fumble — forced by Tarell Basham’s strip sack of Rush — and gave Ohio (3-3, 1-1) first-and-goal at the five. The Bobcats settled for a Josiah Yazdani 24-yard field goal. Rawls scored on a 15-yard run, capping 15-play, 75-yard drive to open the second half and Ohio never threatened again. Davis moved into 4th on Central Michigan’s career receiving yards list with 3,040.

Bowling Green 36, Buffalo 35

BOWLING GREEN

James Knapke threw for a touchdown and ran for another for Bowling Green. Knapke was 20 of 39 for 321 yards for the Falcons (4-2, 2-0). Travis Greene and Fred Coppet each scored rushing touchdowns. Ronnie Moore had nine receptions for 178 yards and a touchdown and Tyler Tate kicked three field goals. The back-and-forth contest had Buffalo (3-3, 1-1) leading 28-20 at the break. A Knapke-to-Moore touchdown pass and a 31-yard field goal by Tate put the Falcons up 30-28 at the end of the third. Buffalo’s Anthone Taylor — who finished with 219 yards and three touchdowns — scored from 12 yards to give the Bulls a 35-30 fourth-quarter advantage. But a 4-yard Coppet TD run with 2:19 left and a Falcons defense that held off a late Buffalo drive sealed the win for Bowling Green.

Miami (Ohio) 42, UMass 41

OXFORD

Taking over inside of midfield after a fumble — one of two turnovers in the closing minutes — Andrew Hendrix quickly moved Miami to the 1, where he plunged over to cement a RedHawks’ comeback victory. UMass (0-6, 0-2) raced away to lead 14-0 after a quarter and 41-21 by halftime, Blake Frohnapfel passing for 255 yards and 4 TDs in the half. The second half belonged to Miami (1-5, 1-1). Hendrix hit 32 of 58 passes for 437 yards and four TDs, all to Sam Martin. Hendrix also rushed for 91 yards and the game-winner with 2:58 remaining. Frohnapfel drove UMass to the 2 as time expired, but once they had the lead, the RedHawks harried Frohnapfel into 10 incompletions in his final two possessions. UMass tight end Todd Stafford also threw a late interception.

Army 33, Ball State 24

WEST POINT, N.Y.

A.J. Schurr scored twice on short runs, Angel Santiago added a game-saving touchdown run in the waning moments, and Army’s potent ground attack was enough to hold off Ball State. The win snapped a three-game slide for Army (2-3), which has won both of its games at home. Ball State (1-4) lost its fourth straight. A steady rain fell for most of the game, and that played to the advantage of the Black Knights and their tough triple option. Averaging 316.5 yards rushing per game, Army racked up 236 yards on the ground in the first half alone, setting up Schurr’s touchdowns and two field goals by Daniel Grochowski.

Toledo 20, Western Michigan 19, OT

KALAMAZOO, MICH.

Logan Woodside threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Alonzo Russell in overtime and Western Michigan missed the extra point on its answering touchdown.

Associated Press