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Johnson's fumble return sets up Yazdani's game-wining FG

Bobcats beat Zips for the 8th straight time


ATHENS – Jovon Johnson’s fumble recovery set up Josiah Yazdani’s game-winning 22-yard field goal with 1:55 remaining and Ohio defeated Akron for the eighth straight time, 23-20, on Saturday at Peden Stadium.

With the game tied at 20, Devin Bass forced the fumble by Andrew Pratt near midfield, and after picking it up, Johnson returned it 24 yards to the Akron 21-yard line.

"The first thing was to get the ball,” Johnson said. “I tried to pick it up the first time and bobbled it, so I fell and then I got back up and picked it up again. When I got up I didn't see anything but white, and I thought it was the opposite team, so I cut back, and, from there, I just tried to get into the end zone.”

The Bobcats (4-4, 2-2 Mid-American Conference) were held inside the 10-yard line, but forced the Zips (4-3, 2-1 MAC) to use all of their timeouts, and their drive that began with less than two minutes remaining ended with a Josh Kristoff interception with 59 seconds left after Akron had reached the 50-yard line.

"I had the easy job,” Kristoff said. “We had some good corners and nickels that were in man-to-man coverage, and I was just sitting back there reading the quarterback's intent. He beat me on that pass about two plays earlier, so I thought it was coming, and I was able to get it."

It was the third field goal in as many tries for Yazdani, who also hit from 42 and 38 yards. JD Sprague ran six times for 68 yards and went 17-of-37 passing for 197 yards with touchdown passes to Ian Dixon and A.J. Ouellette, who rushed 23 times for 74 yards and caught four passes for 30 yards.

“I'm really pleased with the win, and excited to be able to gather a win for our guys and to move on to the next game,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said.

While Sprague filled in for injured starter Derrius Vick for the fourth straight game, Tommy Woodson started at quarterback in place of Kyle Pohl, who suffered concussion-like symptoms in the Zips’ last game. Woodson was 23-of-45 passing with 268 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions and ran 12 times for 44 yards. Zach D’Orazio caught nine passes for 117 yards and a score.

Neither team led by more than four points during the game after Akron answered Dixon’s 49-yard touchdown catch from Sprague with a Woodson 10-yard scoring pass to Conor Hundley barely more than five minutes into the game.

"We've been playing from behind, and, usually, by 14 points early on, it seems like, so to get up was good,” Solich said. “But then we were right back to where it was tied again, and you're starting all over again. We did decide to take the ball if we won the toss. We wanted to go on offense first. It fell into play for us in this ballgame. We were able to get a score, and we just didn't want the opposing team to get a score or two and get up on us again. We wanted to try to let them play catch-up for a little bit."

Akron knotted the game at 20 on the second of two Robert Stein field goals – a 38-yarder early in the fourth quarter after the Zips took over with good field position.

Each team went scoreless on three possessions after that, with Akron continually unable to make the most of good field position. The Zips started all three drives beyond their own 40-yard line, but punted the first two times and fumbled the third time.

Akron got pass completions of 14 and 9 yards and a run of 5 yards for a first down before Woodson tried to pick up a chunk of yards and was picked off by Kristoff at the Ohio 31-yard line.

"We made mistakes at a critical time near the end of the game,” Akron coach Terry Bowden said. “We had a chance to go down there and score and lock the game up, and we miss a catch or a play. Then we fumbled the ball, and gave them a chance to kick a field goal. We were in the position to win the game. I give credit to Ohio. They did the things they had to do. It was a hard-fought game. We felt like that's what it would be. We had ourselves in the position to win, but, this time, we did not make the plays to win, and they did.”

Both teams scored quickly on their first possession of the game, but the defenses settled in after that. It was Ohio that had the good field position in the first half and they used it to get a 42-yard Yazdani field goal to go up 10-7 midway through the second quarter. Stein hit from 40 yards with 4:50 to go before the half, and after the Zips turned the ball over on downs at the Ohio 29-yard line, the Bobcats used a 23-yard completion to Jordan Reid to get into position for a 38-yard field goal by Yazdani that made it 13-10 at halftime.

Akron held its only lead at 17-13 early in the third quarter on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Woodson to D’Orazio, but Ohio went back on top after Ouellette followed up a 17-yard run with a 3-yard touchdown catch at the 5:48 mark of the third quarter.

For the second straight game, the Bobcats were flagged frequently for penalties with 11 of them for 120 yards. The Zips also were victims of penalties against them, though, drawing 10 calls for 83 yards.

Reid had four catches for 57 yards for Ohio, while Akron got four catches and 54 yards from Pratt.

In addition to his interception, Kristoff also had a team-leading nine tackles. Quentin Poling had six tackles, including 1.5 for loss, and Tarell Basham had 2.5 tackles for loss, including 1.5 sacks. Devin Bass had a first-quarter interception.

C.J. Mizell had 12 tackles, with two of them for loss, for Akron. John Senter had an interception and Nick Rossi recovered a fumble.

With the win and Bowling Green losing to Western Michigan, Ohio is back in the mix for the MAC East title, only a game behind the Falcons.

The Bobcats travel to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to take on Western Michigan at 2 p.m. Saturday.








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