Ohio beats Kent

Published 2:27 am Monday, September 1, 2014

KENT (AP) — Josiah Yazdani kicked a 44-yard field goal as time expired, lifting Ohio past Kent State 17-14 in the Mid-American Conference opener for both teams Saturday night.

Derrius Vick was 18 of 24 for 262 yards with two touchdowns for the Bobcats, with both going to Landon Smith in the first half.

Kent State trailed 14-7 for much of the game, but stayed in reach as Ohio fumbled on their first four possessions in the second half.

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After a Dorian Brown fumble, Colin Reardon led the Golden Flashes on an 11-play 78 yard drive, capped by a 25-yard touchdown pass to Chris Humphrey with 4:05 left.

The Bobcats responded as A.J. Ouellette had all six of his rushes for 29 yards on the final drive. Vick added a key third-down conversion with a 7-yard run to get inside the 30, setting up Yazdani’s game-winner three plays later.

Ohio 7 7 0 3 — 17

Kent St. 7 0 0 7 — 14

First Quarter

Ohio—L.Smith 23 pass from Vick (Yazdani kick), 10:01.

Kent—Boyle 8 pass from Reardon (Melchiori kick), 5:58.

Second Quarter

Ohio—L.Smith 5 pass from Vick (Yazdani kick), 6:53.

Fourth Quarter

Kent—Humphrey 25 pass from Reardon (Melchiori kick), 3:34.

Ohio—FG Yazdani 44, :00.

A—22,754.

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Ohio Kent

First downs 20 17

Rushes-yards 44-175 22-31

Passing 262 264

Comp-Att-Int 18-24-0 30-41-0

Return Yards 18 15

Punts-Avg. 4-42.5 7-47.0

Fumbles-Lost 4-4 0-0

Penalties-Yards 1-5 8-44

Time of Possession 29:40 30:20

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Ohio, Patterson 17-61, Vick 8-35, Ouellette 6-28, D.Brown 5-23, White 6-23, Edmond 2-5. Kent St., Meray 6-19, Reardon 8-10, Ni.Holley 5-6, Hibbler 1-(minus 2), Calhoun 2-(minus 2).

PASSING—Ohio, Vick 18-24-0-262. Kent St., Reardon 30-41-0-264.

RECEIVING—Ohio, L.Smith 7-71, Patterson 3-48, Cope 2-71, Mangen 2-26, Reid 1-17, S.Smith 1-15, Cochran 1-7, White 1-7. Kent St., Calhoun 11-62, Humphrey 6-91, Pierce 4-26, Boyle 4-24, Brooks 2-45, Ni.Holley 2-11, Meray 1-5.