Heavy hearts filled Rynearson Stadium on Saturday, as the Eastern Michigan football team mourned the loss of teammate Demarius Reed.
The junior wide receiver and team captain was found dead in the hallway of his apartment complex in Ypsilanti, Mich. due to an apparent homicide.
A moment of silence was served and two players lead the team onto the field, holding their slain teammate’s jersey.
But there was a game to be played and it was an offensive shootout, with the Bobcats (5-2, 2-1 Mid-American Conference) managing to hold off the Eagles in a 56-28 victory.
Ohio’s offense hummed for the majority of the contest, with 547 yards of total offense and all but two of its scoring drives taking less than three minutes, withstanding an opening 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Eastern Michigan junior Tyler Allen.
The Bobcats answered quickly with a four-play, 63-yard drive that resulted in Mario Dovell’s first career touchdown reception of his career, as quarterback Tyler Tettleton connected with him from 14 yards out.
After recovering an Eagle fumble at the Eastern Michigan 30-yard line, Tettleton recorded his second touchdown pass of the day, hitting senior Matt Waters from nine yards out.
Tettleton had no trouble with the Eagle defense, as the redshirt senior completed 23 passes on 30 attempts, racking up a career-high 375 yards and another career-high with four touchdown passes.
“I think it starts with the guys up front,” Tettleton said. “Those guys were giving me a lot of time and they have every game. Obviously, without them, we wouldn’t have the success that we’ve had.”
His only interception came on a pass that was bobbled by sophomore running back Daz’mond Patterson and into the arms of Eagle linebacker Ike Spearman.
Redshirt senior cornerback Travis Carrie made a return for redemption after last week’s muffed punt against Central Michigan, taking a punt return 79 yards to the Eastern Michigan eight-yard line and setting up an eventual Beau Blankenship rushing touchdown on the very next play.
“(Rebounding) was definitely good,” Carrie said. “I’ve got the confidence back up. I’ve been working on punt returns a lot, catching them, during this week. I think a lot of the success came because of preparation and good blocking from our players.”
Eastern Michigan’s offense finally broke through the Ohio defense in the second corner, when EMU quarterback Tyler Benz completed a jump ball to sophomore Dustin Creel from 14 yards out.
Ohio’s offense remained stagnant through the rest of the second and the first ten minutes of the third quarter, allowing the Eagles to regain momentum and tie the game at 21 on a 62 yard touchdown pass to junior Tyreese Russell to cap a 99-yard drive.
The Eagles (1-6, 0-3 MAC) were ready to seize the lead after driving to the Ohio four, but a poor throw by Benz landed in the arms of redshirt sophomore Devin Bass.
Tettleton took advantage on the very next play, as his play-action fake allowed redshirt junior Chase Cochran to dash past the coverage and into the endzone for an 80-yard touchdown.
Offensive fireworks continued for the Bobcats on their next drive, with Tettleton hitting redshirt senior wide receiver Donte Foster from three yards out.
Foster had yet another strong performance, hauling in 11 catches for 143 yards and one touchdown. It was his fourth game of the season with at least six receptions.
He attributes much of his success to the attention teams are paying to Ohio’s run game.
“A lot of teams, they want to fill up the box,” Foster said. “They want to stop Beau and (Ryan) Boykin. It’s the receiver’s job to open that up and take what the defense gives them.”
After a Xavier Hughes interception continued the Eastern Michigan self-destruction, Ohio scored 19 seconds later on a 22 yard touchdown run from Blankenship.
Eagle’s running back Bronson Hill made mincemeat of an Ohio run defense that was ranked second in the MAC entering the contest. The junior finished with 257 yards on 23 carries.
When it comes to addressing the issues with the run defense, which has allowed Central Michigan running back Saylor Lavallii to rush for 184 yards last week, coach Frank Solich isn’t sure how to fix it.
“I don’t know,” Solich said. “That’s a good question. It’s real discouraging. I’ll have to take a look at it to see where the breakdowns were coming, but way too many big runs.”
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