Oct. 3, 2009

Final Stats |  Notes

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio-Ohio senior quarterback Theo Scott passed for two touchdowns and rushed for one as the Bobcats held off host Bowling Green 44-37 Saturday at Doyt Perry Stadium. The Bobcats improved to 3-2 overall and 1-0 in the Mid-American Conference, while the Falcons dropped to 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the league.

The win marked the first time Ohio had won back-to-back games in Bowling Green since duplicating the feat in 1978 and 1980.

Scott passed for 203 yards and two scores and rushed for 82 yards and another to lead the Ohio offense. Senior running back Chris Garrett led a potent Bobcat rushing attack with 120 yards on 16 carries with two scores. Junior wide receiver LaVon Brazill bettered last weekend’s career-best receiving yardage total with 93 Saturday on four catches.

Junior linebacker Noah Keller led the Ohio defense with nine tackles, including a half tackle for loss. Junior defensive lineman Dak Notestine lived in the BGSU backfield with 3.5 tackles for loss, which included three sacks. Senior linebacker Lee Renfro made five stops and broke up three passes.

BGSU’s Tyler Sheehan completed 28 of 52 passes for 390 yards and two touchdowns, while Willie Geter ran 19 times for 70 yards. Receiver Freddie Barnes, the nation’s leader in receiving, caught seven passes for 84 yards. Cornerback Roger Williams and linebacker Jerrett Sanderson combined for 16 tackles and one tackle for loss.

The Falcons got on the board first with a 33-yard Jerry Phillips field goal four minutes, 41 seconds into the contest.

Ohio answered when Scott hit Brazill for a 27-yard touchdown pass across the middle with 4:55 left in the first, but Ohio missed the extra point, so the Bobcats settled for the 6-3 lead.

After Phillips tacked on another field goal, Brazill struck again when he capped off a tremendous Bobcat defensive stand with a 72-yard punt return for touchdown with 7:30 left in the first half.

Ohio continued its fine play when Garrett raced up the middle for the Bobcats’ first rushing touchdown of the season, a 37-yard run with 4:11 left to put the visitors up 20-6. That score came after Ohio redshirt freshman safety Gerald Moore sniffed out a fake punt and stuffed BGSU linebacker James Schneider two yards shy of a first down.

However, BGSU’s Ray Hutson got behind the Bobcat defense in the corner of the end zone and Sheehan found him for an 18-yard strike with 1:38 left for the halftime margin of 20-13.

Ohio cracked the 100-yard rushing mark in the first half, with 101 on 17 carries. Garrett had 78 of those on nine rushes. The Bobcats also held BGSU to 1-7 on third down in the first half. Scott completed five of his seven first-half passes for 72 yards and the touchdown. Brazill had three catches for 48 yards. Keller led the way with six tackles, while Notestine had two sacks.

BGSU’s Sheehan completed 13 of 22 passes for 175 yards and his touchdown. Falcon tight end Jimmy Scheidler caught four balls for 57 yards, while Geter ran 11 times for 53 yards. Jahmal Brown had five tackles.

Phillips added another field goal halfway through the third stanza, before Scott found Price on a 35-yard bomb down the sideline for a 27-16 lead with six minutes left in the third quarter.

Garrett added a two-yard touchdown run two minutes, 45 seconds later to give Ohio an 18-point lead, but Barnes scored on a two-yard run just before the end of the quarter to cut the Ohio lead to 34-23.

Freshman Ohio kicker Matt Weller nailed a 42-yard field goal at the 12:01 mark of the fourth quarter, but Sheehan ran one in from five yards out with 7:17 left to bring the Falcons within one score once more.

Scott then ripped off an electrifying 68-yard touchdown run up the middle to put Ohio up 44-30, but Sheehan answered right back with a seven-yard scoring strike to Justus Jones with 3:41 remaining.

Following a Bobcat punt, the Ohio defense stiffened a final time when it forced a Sheehan fourth-down pass that bounced around several times before eventually falling to the turf. It was the third fourth down play that the Ohio defense thwarted on the day.

The Bobcats amassed 216 yards rushing, while BGSU totaled just 84 yards on the ground.

Ohio will be back in action Saturday against Akron at the new InfoCision Stadium. Kick time is 6 p.m. ET.