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ATHENS, Ohio — For the first time in nearly a year, Peden Stadium roared. The sea of green and white was happy to see Ohio back on Frank Solich Field Saturday night, and even happier to see Ohio take its 600th program win with a 27-20 win over the South Alabama Jaguars.
"I think it's pretty cool. There's a lot of former Bobcats and administrators that have a lot to do with that," said head coach Tim Albin. "In all the pictures of coach [Bill] Hess, he's got the block "O" on, and I wear that in his honor. Don Peden, right. Frank solich, there's a lot of history in those 600 wins, and Brooke [Albin], and I are humbled to serve this university and be a part of it."
After a few scoreless drives, Ohio was off and running. Redshirt freshman running back Rickey Hunt Jr. (Oklahoma City, Okla.) darted down the field 59 yards for the longest rush of his career and to put Ohio in perfect field goal position. With one swift kick from sophomore kicker Gianni Spetic (Chardon, Ohio), Ohio was on the board first.
The Bobcats didn't relent in the second quarter. The defense flew around to keep the Jaguars to 5.9 yards per play with ease. By the end of the second half, the Jaguars were just 3-for-9 on third downs. Junior safety Austin Brawley (Massilon, Ohio) contributed to the attack, and tied with graduate student safety Dustin Johnson (Denver, Colo.) and redshirt freshman safety DJ Walker (Mason, Ohio) for the most tackles of the night (seven total, four solo).
"Austin Brawley's had two really, really good games off the bat. He's a physical kid. He's a ball hawk. He just seems to find it. he's close to getting a couple picks. I want him to keep coming and keep leading. He's the quarterback back there," said Albin. "I thought their skill receivers are as good as Syracuse's, if not better. I think we didn't shut them down, but our two corners, for Roman [Parodie] and Byron [Tank Pearson] played well. Dustin Johnson got some really good snaps. We were physical back there."
Even special teams found itself contributing on defense. Graduate student long snapper Colby Garfield (Clemmons, N.C.) recovered a fumbled kick return on South Alabama's 20-yard line in the second quarter to end South Alabama's drive before it even started.
"We [special teams] don't get much attention, so honestly, I didn't know how to feel about it. I mean, our job is just to go unnoticed of the team. It's just amazing feeling," Garfield said.
Ohio found the endzone in three quick plays after that. Graduate student running back Anthony Tyus III (Protage, Mich.) collected his third touchdown of the season. Tyus is responsible for three of Ohio's five touchdowns this season.
The Jaguars slowly crept up on the Bobcats. They'd landed 10 points in the last five minutes of the second quarter to break the shutout, and that was too close for comfort. To combat the comeback, graduate student quarterback Parker Navarro (Tempe, Ariz.) launched a 33-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Chase Hendricks (St. Louis, Mo) with 36 seconds to go in the half for the Bobcats' second touchdown of the night.
Navarro later earned his first touchdown of the season on a designed keeper in the eighth minute of the third quarter. Navarro ended the evening 20-for-28 with 204 yards to seven different receivers and no interceptions. It was Navarro's first career start with over 200 yards.
South Alabama added another 10 points across the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth to close in on Ohio. However, Ohio's offense made haste to get into field goal position to make the comeback less feasible.
Spetic lined up for the final time in the third minute of the fourth quarter and sealed the deal. The sophomore ended the night 2-for-2 for field goals and 3-for-3 for PATs. Navarro soon kneeled and Ohio had its first win of the season.
The Bobcats will be back on Frank Solich Field next Saturday, Sept. 14 to face the Morgan State Bears. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.
#OUOhyeah
