Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Kent State at Ohio University Blog


FOURTH QUARTER

Dri Archer put the stamp on what is now a blowout win.

A 29-yard scamper with 1:46 on the clock extended the Golden Flashes' lead to 44-13. 

It also put the final stamp on a spectacular career at Kent State. Best of luck in the NFL Dri! We'll be following you.

Melchiori added field goals of 28 and 26 yards earlier in the quarter.

Going back to the Reardon-to-Pierce touchdown pass with 31 seconds to play in the second quarter and Kent State out-scored Ohio 34-0 after falling behind 13-10. 


That finish and these back-to-back wins over Miami and Ohio may not be the 4-out-of-5 that Darrell Hazell's first team put together at the end of 2011, but its certainly something to build on for next season. It gives the group that returns some positive thoughts to spur them on in the offseason.

Sure, the Flashes lose some of the most successful and talented players in Kent State history in Archer, Nix, Wollet, Goode and more ... but Reardon is back, and he'll be pushed by another talented freshman quarterback in Nathan Strock. Competition can only make that duo better. The comeback players in Terhune and Melchiori are back. Trayion Durham will be back, as will Chris Humphrey, who is having another good night that included a first-half circus catch.

THIRD QUARTER

Two more Kent State touchdowns in the third quarter have Kent State in position to finish the 2013 season with a pair of satisfying wins over MAC East rivals. Miami may be down and Ohio may be reeling late in the year, but how many times over the years have the Golden Flashes been able to celebrate wins over those two teams in the same season ... and in back to back years?

I was in my sophomore and junior years at Hudson High School the last time it happened back in the 1986 and 1987 seasons.

The second of Kent State's two touchdowns was a real thriller ... a 61-yard rumble by Nate Terhune on a fake punt with 8:10 on the clock ... and with an exclamation-point hurdle over Ohio punt returner Daz'mond Patterson at the Bobcats' 40-yard line.

By now most of you know about Terhune's comeback from a broken leg four weeks after suffering the injury at LSU on Sep. 14. That touchdown puts an exclamation on his incredible return.

Here is a link to a story I wrote on Terhune's comeback that ran in last week's game program. 

The Terhune punt return gave Kent State a commanding 31-13 lead.

Earlier int he quarter, Dri Archer added his second touchdown of the night with a 5-yard run to put the Flashes ahead 24-13.



SECOND QUARTER

Colin Reardon is putting together arguably his best game of 2013 hear in the regular-season finale. At halftime he has completed 10-of-16 for 125 yards and has been extremely accurate. He’s even clicking to the point that he is getting away with it when he makes a high-risk throw, as he appeared to do when he lofted his only touchdown pass of the first half to tight end Casey Pierce late in the first half.

The 11-yard throw to Pierce gave Kent State a 17-13 lead going into halftime. When Pierce came down with it, there were four Bobcats surrounding him. It may not have been as high risk a throw, however, as I thought when I first watched Reardon loft it towards the end zone. Pierce is 6-foot-4 after all, and he had a better chance of high-pointing the football than the smaller Ohio defenders. In fact, it’s actually the kind of throw I used to expect more often to former KSU receivers like Cameron Bobb and Mario Medley in the red zone in past years.

I’m a bit surprised that the Flashes have been as balanced offensively as they have, with Reardon putting up some of his best numbers of the season so far. Ohio has struggled against the run in recent weeks, and that had me expecting to see Kent State try to run the ball down the Bobcats’ throats with Trayion Durham and Dri Archer.

We’ve seen some Thunder and Lightning, though, so far in the first half. Archer had a 24-yard touchdown run that put the Flashes ahead 10-6 early in the second quarter. The Flashes have 80 rushing yards compared with the 126 they have through the air with Reardon.

FIRST QUARTER


Anthony Melchiori’s impressive comeback from a hamstring injury continues as he boots a 47-yard field goal to tie the game at 3-3 with 10:06 to play in the first quarter.

I wrote about this last week, but it’s worth repeating. I passed Melchiori in the hallway of the M.A.C. Center a few weeks back and he told me that he was planning on coming back for the Miami game. I liked the determination in his voice but didn’t necessarily expect to see Melchiori return this season. Paul Haynes had said that it was doubtful Melchiori would return, and when he did it was pretty clear that the coaching staff planned on shutting him down to heal for next season.

Melchiori is a tough kid. He’s from a similar mold as Matt Bahr. Some of you may remember how Bahr used to love to be in the mix trying to make a tackle after kicking off. Similarly, Melchiori approaches playing kicker like he is a position player. I was fortunate to see him play in high school at nearby Aurora, and he was a do-it-all guy then, playing defensive back and wide receiver in addition to kicking and punting. He’s carried that position-player mentality to his current role at Kent State.


PREGAME


I am not in Athens tonight, unfortunately. I could't make the trip, but I'll be sitting at home like most of you watching on ESPN2 as Roosevelt Nix, Dri Archer, Luke Wollet and the rest of the Golden Flashes' 16-man senior class plays its last game in a Kent State uniform.

Fitting, ESPN has a good story on its College Football Blog about Dri Archer taking "aim at the future."

In it he says he has no regrets about returning to Kent State for his senior year, despite the fact that injury kept the 2013 season from going the way he had wanted.

To read it click, the image below:


There are some other Kent State-Ohio stories on the web if you'd like to do some pre-game prep. 

Here are a few of the links:




What do you hope to see tonight as we say goodbye to some of the most successful seniors in Kent State football history?

What will Dri Archer, Roosevelt Nix, Luke Wollet, Tyshon Goode and the rest do in their final game?

Predictions?


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