Jakob Milani
Staff Writer
After a slow first half, the Murray State football team failed to out-duel the Austin Peay Governors in an exciting second half, losing 34-31.
The Racers dropped their fourth straight game against their rivals despite taking the Governors down to the final few seconds of the game.
The Racers started the game with the ball but struggled to gain momentum early. The Racers were forced to punt after just three plays on both of their starting drives in the first quarter. The Governors managed to get the ball moving on their second drive when freshman quarterback Draylen Ellis completed a 13-yard pass to senior wide receiver Baniko Harley. The pass set up a 40-yard field goal for the Governors, giving Austin Peay a 3-0 lead with 8:52 left in the quarter. The Racers finally got the ball moving later in the quarter when junior quarterback Preston Rice completed a 26-yard pass to redshirt-senior wide receiver Malik Honeycutt. The pass set up a 41-yard field goal for graduate kicker Aaron Baum, tying the game 3-3 to end the first quarter.
The Governors started moving the ball down the field quickly in the second quarter with senior running back Ahmaad Tanner leading the way. The Governors capped off the drive with a 26-yard pass from Ellis to junior wide receiver Eugene Minter for a touchdown, giving Austin Peay a 10-3 lead over the Racers with 11:17 left in the quarter. The Racers answered right back with a big play of their own when Rice threw a 41-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Jacob Bell, putting the Racers at the Governors’ one yard line. Rice took the rush on the next play in for a touchdown to tie the game at 10 with 8:07 left in the quarter. After the Racers’ touchdown, neither team scored again in the quarter as the defenses shut down any offensive movement. Going into halftime, the racers remained tied with the Governors with a score of 10-10.
At halftime, Rice was 3-9 passing for the Racers with 72 passing yards, 26 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown, while freshman running back Demonta Witherspoon had 24 yards on eight rushes. For the Governors, Ellis was 9-17 passing with 77 yards and a touchdown and Tanner had 42 yards on 11 rushing attempts.
The Governors started the third quarter with a bang as freshman running back CJ Evans rushed 52 yards all the way up to the Racers’ 11 yard line. Ellis rushed for 11 yards on the next play to get the touchdown and put the Governors up 17-10. The Racers answered with back-to-back rushes from Witherspoon for 45 combined yards. Those two plays set up a 28-yard touchdown pass from Rice to junior wide receiver LaMartez Brooks to tie the game at 17. The Governors came back with another impressive drive that started with Ellis connecting on three straight passes to senior wide receiver Deangelo Wilson for 56 yards. Those three plays helped set up a five-yard touchdown run from Tanner to give the Governors a 24-17 lead with 8:34 left in the quarter. The Racers still wouldn’t back down as they slowly made their way down the field for one more touchdown rush by Rice to tie the game at 24 at the end of the quarter.
The game came down to the fourth quarter for the Racers and they made their best attempt at taking the game. The Racers made their way down the field in quick fashion and ended the drive with an 18-yard touchdown rush from Witherspoon to give the Racers a 31-24 lead, their first lead of the game. However, it didn’t take long for the Governors to tie the game up as they made their way down the field and threw a touchdown pass to Evans to tie the game at 31. The Governors’ defense shut down the Racers’ offense on the following drive, not allowing them to retake the lead and take over at their own four yard line. From there, the Governors ran 5:31 off the clock on their drive and kicked a field goal to take a 34-31 lead, leaving the Racers with just two seconds to score. The Racers couldn’t do anything on their last play and suffered their first loss of the season. The Governors walked away victorious, defeating the Racers by a score of 34-31.
Ellis led the Governors to victory, throwing 21-34 in the game with 227 passing yards, two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown. Tanner finished with 122 rushing yards and a touchdown on 25 attempts, while Wilson had 99 receiving yards from 10 catches.
Rice was 13-20 in passing for the Racers with 192 passing yards, a passing touchdown and two rushing touchdowns. Brooks had 94 yards and a touchdown from eight catches. Witherspoon finished with 95 yards and a touchdown off of 17 rushes. Junior linebacker Eric Samuta finished with 16 tackles and a tackle for loss in the game.
The Governors finished with 227 passing yards and 220 rushing yards in the game, while the Racers had just 193 passing yards and 151 rushing yards. The Racers’ defense had eight tackles for loss in the game compared to the Governors’ three.
The Racers suffered their first loss of the season, dropping to 5-1 overall. The Racers take on Jacksonville State University on Sunday, April 11, at 2 p.m. The game marks the first time the Racers will play for a conference title since 2002.
