Chippewas' Rally Falls Short in 27-25 Homecoming Loss to Ohio

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – This time, the mountain proved to be too high to climb.

The Central Michigan football team nearly overcame a 24-0 halftime deficit with a strong second half on Saturday before succumbing to Ohio, 27-25, in a Mid-American Conference game on Kramer/Deromedi Field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

The loss spoiled CMU's homecoming and ended the Chippewas' win streak at two games as they dropped to 3-3, 1-1 MAC. Ohio is 4-2, 2-0.

"Tough one," CMU coach Jim McElwain said. "Hats off to them, they came in and stuck it to us a little bit there in the first half. I thought our guys responded in the second, which was good.

"We were close to giving ourselves an opportunity to win the ball game and just couldn't get over the hump."

CMU, which plays a MAC game at Eastern Michigan next weekend, was flagged 15 times for 133 yards and surrendered 424 yards, 277 of that on the ground.

Ohio quarterback Parker Navarro ran for 176 yards, the lion's share in the first half when the Bobcats moved the ball nearly at will in putting the Chippewas in a 24-point hole.

"Credit to that quarterback," said CMU defensive back Donte Kent, who led the Chippewas with eight tackles. "He's a hell of a player.

"Sometimes on our rush lanes, we got a little too high, we just missed a few tackles. You saw later in the second half we kind of slowed it down, we stopped it a little bit. We've just got to come out of the gate, start fast, and not fall so far down on the scoreboard early."

CMU got it in gear in the second half, getting a career-high three rushing touchdowns from Marion Lukes and a Travis Mattson field goal to make a game of it.

Lukes, who finished with a season-high 110 yards on 20 carries and caught five passes for 31 yards, scored with 9:00 to play to draw CMU to 24-18 and give the Chippewas legitimate hopes of a third-consecutive comeback win.

But Ohio kicked a field goal with 5:17 left to extend their lead to 27-18. Lukes then scored on a 28-yard run with 1:52 left to bring the Chippewas to 27-25.

CMU's onside kick went out of bounds and the Bobcats used their highly effective ground game to pick up two first downs and run out the clock.

"There really weren't any magic words or anything," McElwain said of his team's halftime adjustments. "The guys were a little embarrassed to be honest with you in that first half. That probably was the biggest piece, and I think some guys, instead of hanging their heads, picked themselves up and picked each other up."

CMU lost starting quarterback Joe Labas to an injury midway through the second quarter. Bert Emanuel Jr., who has spelled Labas frequently throughout the season, did not dress for the game, leaving it to backup Tyler Jefferson.

Jefferson, a redshirt freshman, threw for 95 yards on 8-of-13 passing and rushed for 28 yards on 10 carries. He led all four of CMU's second-half scoring drives.

"I thought TJ came in and did a really good job," McElwain said. "Settled in and did some things with his legs that were good. It wasn't too big for him. He handled it."

Chippewas' Rally Falls Short in 27-25 Homecoming Loss to Ohio

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Team Stats

Tyler Jefferson

Joe Labas

Players Mentioned

Tyler Jefferson

Donte Kent

Joe Labas

Marion Lukes