Jakob Milani
Staff Writer
Not even a weather delay could stop the Murray State football team from defeating the UT Martin Skyhawks by a score of 14-10.
After a day of nonstop rainfall, Head Coach Dean Hood took the field for his first game at Murray State and walked off with his first win at the Racers’ helm.
The Skyhawks received the ball to start the game and started their drive on their own 25 yard line. The Racers’ defense forced a quick three and out, forcing the Skyhawks to punt. On the Skyhawks’ next drive, sophomore quarterback John Bachus III threw an interception to senior safety Don Parker, who went down Murray State’s 10 yard line.
For the first play of the Racers’ drive, junior quarterback Preston Rice threw a pass to senior wide receiver DeQuan Dallas, who took it all the way to the end zone for an 83-yard receiving touchdown, giving the Racers a 7-0 lead. The Skyhawks had a chance to score later in the first quarter after a 34-yard rush by senior running back Peyton Logan, but failed to complete the touchdown pass on a 4th-and-goal from the Racers three yard line. After the first quarter, the Racers led the Skyhawks 7-0.
The Racers started with the ball in the second quarter and despite driving down to the Skyhawks’ 27 yard line, sophomore kicker Zaden Webber missed the 45-yard field goal, giving the Skyhawks the ball. The Racers’ defense stepped up yet again, preventing a first down by the Skyhawks. After the Skyhawks punted, the Racers started the drive with a 26-yard rush from senior running back Demonta Witherspoon. The Skyhawks’ defense stopped any movement after that, forcing the Racers to punt. The Skyhawks drove down the field to the Racers’ 17, but had to settle for a field goal on 4th-and-5, bringing the score to 7-3 in favor of Murray State. The Racers ended the quarter without making any headway and went into halftime leading the Skyhawks 7-3.
The Racers got the ball to start the second half and just like with the Skyhawks’ first possession, suffered a three-and-out. A few drives later, Bachus III dropped back to pass, but Parker blitzed around the left edge and forced Bachus III to fumble. Junior defensive lineman Ethan Edmonson recovered the ball to give the Racers possession. Despite a 28-yard pass from Rice to Dallas to put the Racers in the red zone, the Racers didn’t get a single point as senior kicker Aaron Bau missed the 37-yard field goal. Later in the quarter, Bachus III threw another interception, this time by senior cornerback Sylvaughn Turner, but the Racers failed to make anything of the pick and punted on 4th-and-29. The Skyhawks weren’t able to score after the punt and the quarter ended with the Racers leading 7-3.
The Racers defense started the 4th quarter with a huge sack on 3rd-and-5 from junior outside linebacker Scotty Humpich, forcing a 4th-and-13 for the Skyhawks. Later in the quarter, Witherspoon had a long 16-yard rush to set the Racers up at the five, allowing Rice to rush into the end zone two plays later for a Murray State touchdown, making the score 14-3. The Skyhawks didn’t back down as junior quarterback Dresser Winn rushed for a touchdown to lighten the Racer lead, making the score 14-10 with just 59 seconds left in the game. However, the Skyhawks failed to recover the onside kick, giving the Racers the ball and allowing them to kneel the game away. The Racers defeated the Skyhawks by a score of 14-10.
Bachus III finished the game passing 13-26 for 84 yards and two interceptions for the Skyhawks, while Winn passed 2-5 in the game for 19 yards and rushed three times for 19 yards and a touchdown. Logan rushed 15 times for 91 yards and six catches for 39 yards. Junior wide receiver Colton Dowell had seven receptions for 61 yards.
For the Racers, Rice was 9-22 passing in the game with 155 yards and a touchdown and rushed 11 times for 47 yards and a touchdown. Dallas finished with two receptions for 111 yards and a touchdown. Witherspoon rushed 14 times for 89 yards in the game. Parker finished with an interception, a fumble and five tackles, two of which were tackles-for-loss.
After the game, Rice talked about the win and how the team played after the rain delay late in the third quarter. He gave a lot of credit to Head Coach Dean Hood and his focus on persistence.
“It’s just what Coach Hood talks about, adversity,” Rice said. “Just brush it off our shoulders and keep going. With everything that’s happened over the past year and a half, tonight was just about playing par for the course. We handled it exactly how we’ve handled the past year and a half: exceptionally well. It’s just a good feeling.”
Rice also talked about what the team has learned in the several months since the team last played. He said it showed who the players really are and how they are always ready for a game.
“It brings out the real character in each of us,” Rice said. “It shows that we want to be here. It shows that we want to play football. It shows that we are here for each other and that we are ready to play at any time. We’re just waiting for the next opportunity to get out there and play.”
Parker spoke after the game about the defensive effort in the game, saying the plan for the game was to slow down the Skyhawks’ running game.
“Coming into the game, stopping the run was a real big emphasis,” Parker said. “I know since we had players from last year that came back and the loss to them was pretty bad last year, we were like let’s go ahead and show them what Racers really are. We just came and stopped them.”
Hood also spoke postgame about the win and how proud he was of the team.
“I’m just really really proud of the kids,” Hood said. “They’re just so resilient… it just seems like at every turn there is more adversity for these kids. They just do a great job of facing the brutal facts of reality of what we’re dealing with and attacking it and saying that they are gonna persevere and keep attacking it. They’ve just been unbelievable every step of the way.”
The Racers start their season 1-0 with the win over UT Martin. The Racers play next at SEMO on Sunday, March 7, when they take on the Redhawks at 2 p.m.
