Chippewas Fall At Eastern

YPSILANTI, Mich. – The search for offensive production is, indeed, frustrating. The search for a win even more so.

Central Michigan once again struggled to move the ball on Saturday in dropping a 17-7 Mid-American Conference game to Eastern Michigan at the Eagles' Rynearson Stadium.

CMU is 1-9, 0-6 MAC. The Chippewas play their final home game next Saturday against Bowling Green. The Eagles are 5-5, 3-3.

The Chippewas finished with just 138 yards in total offense yet hung in on the strength of an inspiring performance by their defense.

The defense produced CMU's only points of the day on a 68-yard Mike Danna fumble return for a touchdown with under 10 seconds to play in the first half. That tied the game 7-7.

Eastern Michigan got a 7-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Wiegers to Blake Banham midway through the fourth quarter to take the lead for good. The Eagles added a field goal for the final margin.

"The defense was outstanding, just not enough on offense. Not even close," CMU coach John Bonamego said. "We weren't able to move the ball through the air. Had a little success on the ground, but not enough to sustain any drives.

"It's unacceptable. We need to be better. Go back to work tomorrow and try to figure it out and find some answers."

Bonamego went to his bullpen for redshirt freshman Austin Hergott, who completed two of his five pass attempts on the Chippewas' final possession, during which CMU gained three first downs.

Hergott spelled starter Tony Poljan, who completed 10 of 27 passes, was sacked three times, and threw one interception.

Hergott "gave us a little bit of a spark," Bonamego said. "He made some throws, moved the chains. Made some good quick decision out there. I think we've got to give Austin a strong look this week and see how he does in practice.

"We have another game (next) Saturday. The last home game for our seniors. … All options are on the table at this point."

Eastern Michigan used two big plays – a 47-yard pass play and a 26-yard touchdown run -- on its first drive of the game in seizing a 7-0 lead.

The defense kept the Chippewas in the game and appeared to give CMU the spark it has so sorely lacked throughout the season when Sean Adesanya sacked Eastern quarterback Tyler Wiegers and forced a fumble that Danna scooped up and turned into a touchdown.

That turn of events tied the game and appeared to give CMU a boost.

"That was a huge play," Bonamego said. "That was a gigantic momentum play for us going into halftime. I thought our defense was stellar today.

"We've got to put together four quarters. We've put together one and two; this game I thought we put together three. But we weren't able to finish it at the end."

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Team Stats

Tony Poljan

Austin Hergott

Players Mentioned

Sean Adesanya

Mike Danna

Austin Hergott

Tony Poljan

Players Mentioned

Sean Adesanya

Mike Danna

Austin Hergott

Tony Poljan