Chippewas Strike Early, Snuff Out Eastern Michigan, 23-14, in MAC Opener

Saturday, September 27

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

1:00 PM

Central Michigan University

3-2 , 1-0

Eastern Michigan

1-4 , 0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Eastern Michigan

Central Michigan

Photo by: Sydney Kline '26 - @sydney.kline.photography

Photo by: Lauren Verellen '26 - @laurenverellen_photography

Chippewas Strike Early, Snuff Out Eastern Michigan, 23-14, in MAC Opener

9/27/2025 6:29:00 PM | Football

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CMU delivers victory in front of ninth-largest crowd in Kelly/Shorts Stadium history

By: Andy Sneddon

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Angel Flores on the ground, Joe Labas through the air.

Flores and Labas, Central Michigan's one-two quarterback punch, combined for 280 yards in rushing and passing on Saturday as the Chippewas defeated Eastern Michigan, 24-13, before more than 28,000 in the Mid-American Conference football opener for both schools on Kramer/Deromedi Field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

It was CMU's second straight win as it improved to 3-2 and gave first-year coach Matt Drinkall a victory in his first conference game.

"I know how much that meant to our players, so it's good to get out of there with a win today," said Drinkall, whose team goes to Akron (1-4, 0-1 MAC) for a league game next week. "An enormous thank you (and) acknowledgement of gratitude to the entire Central Michigan fan base, the community of Mount Pleasant, all of the Central students.

"We had 28,605 people in attendance, a top-10 largest crowd in Kelly/Shorts (history), and we needed everybody. The crowd was a huge advantage for us. The energy was great from the get-go."

That partisan crowd, the ninth largest in stadium history, was treated to a fast start by the Chippewas, who scored on their first three possessions in building a 21-3 lead that stood at 21-13 deep into the third quarter.

The Eagles (1-4) drove to midfield when Maddix Blackwell intercepted an EMU pass to give the Chippewas possession at their own 24-yard line.

CMU then went on a 14-play, 72-yard drive that milked nearly eight minutes off the clock and culminated in a Cade Graham 22-yard field goal that upped CMU's lead to the final margin and essentially snuffed out EMU's comeback hopes.

Flores did much of the damage on his own on the game-clinching drive, carrying six times for 40 yards. With the Chippewas facing a fourth-and-1 at the EMU 37, Flores hit the line and broke to the outside for a 12-yard run for a first down.

"They were kind of spilling a little bit, crashing down," Flores said of EMU's defense. "I saw a huge gap and ended up bouncing and getting out.

"(the win) just gives us extreme confidence going into next week and we're going to enjoy this, but go back to work on Sunday."

Thirteen of CMU's plays on the drive were run plays. CMU finished with a 10-plus-minute edge in possession time and held the ball for 11:31 of the 15-minute fourth quarter.

"We didn't try to get into the absolute perfect play in that series," Drinkall said. "It was just kind of like, hey, run some sound stuff and we feel like we execute really well and see if our kids can do it and they played desperate and they played passionate football and executed really well.

"Part of our deal is advancing the ball to get points but using up a lot of clock to do it. That's our deal. That series was a lot of like who we are: Third-down conversions, going for it on fourth down, running the quarterback and being able to chunk the ball down. What a relief when that kick goes through and just changes everything."

Nahree Biggins rushed for 113 yards and a touchdown, a 49-yarder in the first quarter that extended CMU's lead to 14-0. It marked the first time CMU has had two players rush for 100-plus yards in a game since Sept. 9, 2023.

The rushing totals for both Biggins and Flores are career highs.

CMU ran for a season-high 305 yards and finished with 445 yards from scrimmage, its second-highest total of the season.

Labas, who last week against Wagner threw for 241 yards and three TDs on 12-of-14 passing, was again extremely efficient, completing 14 of his 16 passes for 138 yards. He capped CMU's first possession with a 1-yard TD pass to Brock Townsend for a 7-0 lead less than six minutes into the game.

Biggins' 49-yard TD scamper, CMU's longest TD run of the season, came less than five minutes later.

After Eastern got a field goal to cut the Chippewas' lead to 14-3, Flores connected with Langston Lewis on a 2-yard TD pass early in the second quarter to make It 21-3.

The Eagles came back with a field goal with under six minutes to play in the half, and then got a 14-yard TD run from quarterback Noah Kim with 10:45 left in the third quarter, cutting the Chippewa lead to 21-13.