Box Score Panther passing attack too much for Marauders in 35-7 lossWILBERFORCE, Ohio – The 2015 home opener did not play out how Coach
Cedric Pearl and the Marauders had hoped as Central State lost, 35-7, to Kentucky Wesleyan on a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon.
Failing to score an offensive touchdown in last week's 21-17 loss to Kentucky State, CSU inserted junior quarterback
Terrence Wafford into the starting role with the hopes that Wafford could give a spark to a struggling offense. It appeared to be a good decision early as Wafford completed a 24 yard strike to tight end
Zach Thomas on the first play of the game. Unfortunately for Wafford and the Marauders, the new signal caller threw 3 interceptions in the first quarter, including a return for a touchdown by KWC's D'Mo Crawford to put the Panthers up 7-0 at the 9:31 mark.
The Marauder offense finally found the end zone for the first time in two weeks when Wafford connected with
Rashad Oglesby for a 11 yard touchdown reception to even the score, 7-7, with 10:33 to go in the 2
nd quarter. Both teams struggled to find a rhythm on an extremely saturated McPherson field as the score remained 7-7 at half.
"Despite all our mistakes, we managed to stay in the game," Pearl said. "We just didn't come out with the urgency in the second half and Kentucky Wesleyan took advantage of it."
With both teams' first drives of the 3
rd quarter stalling, KWC's regained the lead thanks to a 75 yard reception by Keelan Cole at the 10:07 mark. KWC quarterback Dalton Oliver connected with Trey Beets later in the quarter to extend the lead to 21-7. The Oliver-Cole connection struck again on the second play of the 4
th quarter with a 79 yard catch and run to go up 28-7. Oliver threw his 4
th touchdown pass of the afternoon on a 47 yard completion to Travion Tucker with 10:06 left in the game.
"Missed tackles and poor technique is what usually leads to big plays and that was exactly what happened in the second half," Pearl explained.
With CSU struggling to score, KWC was able to run out the remaining 8:31 left in the game with a 13 play, 48 yard drive.
With the win, KWC improved to 1-3 on the season. With back to back losses for the first time this season, CSU fell to 2-3 overall.
"We did not make the plays we needed to make to stay in the game," Pearl said. "Anytime you turn the ball over and drop as many passes as we did, you can't expect to come out on top. We have to play smarter and take advantage of our opportunities that the opponent gives us. We are going to work all week long to fix our mistakes and improve on our weaknesses."
The Marauders turned the ball over 7 times while CSU receivers dropped 4 balls for what would have been major chunks of yardage. The defense, which had given up just 3 touchdowns all season, allowed 411 yards of total offense in addition to the 4 scores
Oliver finished with 389 yards through the air, completing 20 of 35 pass attempts. Cole finished with 238 receiving yards on 7 receptions. The KWC defense was led by 3 interceptions from safety Yorell Branch. Linebacker Micah Crutcher led the Panthers with 6.5 tackles and 1 sack.
For CSU,
Rashad Oglesby led the way on offense with 4 receptions for 36 yards and the only CSU touchdown. Defensively,
Justin Woods-West had a career day with 5 sacks, giving him a team-high 8 on the year. Linebackers
Gervell Morgan and
Deonate Gary combined for 19 tackles, with 8 accounting for yards lost.
"We have to be better as coaches and players heading into next week's game against Miles," Pearl said. "We have suffered two tough losses. Now is the time to pick ourselves up and work hard to deliver a performance our fans can be proud of."
Central State hosts SIAC divisional foe Miles College (1-3;1-0) for Homecoming next Saturday at 1:30 pm.
Game notes provided by Orlander StoneÂ
