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Harden, Tettleton, Brazill lead Bobcats past Owls

Ohio takes back control of MAC East in front of ESPN audience, black out crowd


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ATHENS, Ohio – Tyler Tettleton scrambled and threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Donte Foster with 1:41 remaining to give Ohio a 35-31 victory against Temple at Peden Stadium on Wednesday night.

It was Tettleton’s fourth touchdown of the game, and Donte Harden contributed a school-record 322 all-purpose yards as the Bobcats (6-3, 3-2 MAC) racked up 521 yards of offense against a Temple defense that came in ranked ninth in the nation.

Chris Coyer, normally a wildcat quarterback, came off the bench to give the Owls (5-4, 3-3 MAC) a spark offensively with 184 yards rushing and three touchdown passes, but it was not enough for Temple in front of Ohio’s “black out” crowd of 17,490 on ESPN.

“The way it went back and forth was tough on everybody on both sidelines, but it was really a great football game,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “I was glad that type of game came about on national TV. I think it’s good for our program. I think it’s good for the university and I’m certainly proud of our players to hang in there the way they did to win the game in the matter they did.”

Coyer and the Owls had one more chance to answer in a back-and-forth second half, but the Bobcats forced a four-and-out and then were able to run out the remaining time on the clock.

Foster’s touchdown reception answered the Owl’s 9-yard scoring strike from Coyer to Deon Miller with 4:46 left in the game that put Temple on top, 31-28.

A 50-yard pass from Tettleton to Harden, who also caught a 25-yard touchdown pass on the same play call on Ohio’s first possession of the game, quickly put the Bobcats at the Owls’ 23-yard line.

Beau Blankenship had runs of 6 and 9 yards to set up a first-and-goal from the 8-yard line for Ohio, but after a timeout and a Harden rush of 3 yards, an incompletion made it third down.

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Lonnie McMillan Photo
Tettleton, who was 15 of 24 for 258 yards, bought just enough time for Foster to make a grab near the ground in the end zone.

“I was just waiting for Riley (Dunlop) to get open, but then they kind of cornered him in and he couldn’t get by them,” Tettleton said. “So I just tried to buy time and kind of trusted Donte to get open and come to the right because I really didn’t have anything after that, so I just kind of threw it to him and he made a great play.”

Following a first half tied at 14, Ohio took the lead when Harden busted an 81-yard run for a score.

But Temple answered on the ensuing possession, tying it at 21 on a 20-yard run by Bernard Pierce, who was limited to 84 yards on 22 carries.

After a Bobcats punt, the Owls took advantage of a 23-yard run by punter Brandon McManus on a fourth-down play. Ohio finally stopped the drive at the 10-yard line and Temple settled for a 27-yard McManus field goal and a 24-21 advantage.

LaVon Brazill, who finished with seven receptions for 135 yards, had a 30-yard catch down the middle of the field and then hauled in a third-down pass along the sideline good for 28 yards to the 2-yard line, setting up a short scoring pass to Jordan Thompson and a 28-24 Ohio lead with 7:51 remaining.

“At first I bobbled, but as I was going down, I made sure I got my hands on the ball and I held it as tight as I could and made the play,” Brazill said.

Temple’s final touchdown as set up by a 31-yard run by Coyer and a 27-yard pass to Rod Streeter on a third-and-11 play from the Ohio 37.

Although the Bobcats came out and scored on their opening drive of the game, the first half was highlighted by both teams’ defenses.

Neither team scored after the early touchdown until there was 11:49 remaining in the first half. That is when the Owls took advantage of a Foster fumble to score on a 32-yard drive with a 5-yard pass from Coyer to Evan Rodriguez.

Ohio used a trick play to aid in its ensuing drive, getting a 23-yard pass from Phil Bates to Tettleton, who eventually capped off the possession with a 3-yard touchdown run.

“I think against a defense like they are, you probably don’t want to just line up and do the same thing time and time again,” Solich said. “They’re too good for that, so you better show them a little variety and I thought our offensive staff did a great job of putting a game plan together.”

On its final possession of the half, Temple got a 35-yard Coyer rush, followed by a 34-yard pass to Streater on the next player to tie the game at 14.

The victory puts the Bobcats back atop the MAC East standings with Miami (2-2 MAC) as the only other team in the division with fewer than three losses.

Harden had 184 yards rushing on 22 attempts, caught two passes for 75 yards and had three kickoff returns for 63 yards to break the single-game all-purpose record formerly held by Chris Garrett by 1 yard.

“You don’t have a 9.2 average per carry against most anybody, let alone a great defensive team, which they are,” Solich said. “They have excellent talent, so it was really a super game by him. In order to do that, you’ve got to have some guys up front. As you know it goes into a team effort, but there were a lot of great individual performances.”

Chester Stewart started the game at quarterback for Temple, but was just 1 of 3 for 6 yards. Coyer ended up 8 of 14 for 123 yards. Streater had three catches for 82 yards.

Linebacker Noah Keller led the Bobcats defensively with 15 tackles, while Jelani Wosely, starting for the injured Eric Benjamin, had nine tackles.

“The biggest thing coming in obviously was their rushing attack,” Keller said. “Obviously they rushed for quite a few yards, but it wasn’t from their workhorse backs that they’ve got. The defensive play, we didn’t play good, but we played good enough.”

Justin Gildea had nine tackles, including 2.5 for loss with one sack, to lead Temple.

Ohio will try to maintain its hold on first place when it travels to Mount Pleasant, Mich., for a 7 p.m. game Thursday at Central Michigan.

Additional Coverage:
Box score  (Ohio Bobcats.com)

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