BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University football team fell to Ohio in a close 17-10 matchup, the Owls’ first loss of the season.
FIRST HALF
The tone for the opening half was set on the very first play from scrimmage when LB Jackson Ambush intercepted a pass, the first of three forced turnovers. The rest of the half was a defensive battle as Roc Bellantoni’s unit continued to make plays. Safety Dwight Toombs made a key tackle on fourth down to force a turnover on downs. Soon after, cornerback Darius McClendon forced and recovered a fumble.
In the second quarter it was Jarron Morris, graduate DB, making his first highlight play as an Owl by hauling in an interception and taking it 72 yards to the house for the game’s first touchdown. The Owls entered the locker room with a 10-7 advantage.
SECOND HALF
Ohio took the lead on a five-yard touchdown run with 5:38 to go in the third quarter. While the Bobcats were only able to get one field goal the rest of the way, the Owls could not find the end zone.
The final drive of the night began with dynamic playmaking WR LaJohntay Wester delivering a 29-yard punt return to Ohio’s 42. The Owls were able to get the ball it to the 26-yard line before the final pass fell incomplete with zeroes on the clock.
QUOTABLE
Hagerty Family Football Head Coach Tom Herman
“Maybe one of the weirdest games I have been apart. I told the team at halftime with a smile on my face up 10-7 that there is not a team in the country that can beat two teams in one night and we were trying to do that the entire half and a lot of times in the second half. In the first half, we had two personal fouls, two facemasks, targeting, four drops and 11 yards rushing. As bad as of a night as we had in the first half, we were still in the lead thanks very much in part to the defense and the effort they showed. The thing that sticks out as well it should is how poorly we played offensively. I told our team that I still believe. I have been doing this a long time and our best is really good. For whatever reason, I don’t know if we have to change the way we handle rain delays, if I have to change the approach with the team. We try to tell them all week that as pleased as we were with the outcome of Monmouth, we knew we had work to do and we knew that the competition level was going to ratchet up significantly…I do think we are talented enough. As I told the team, we are a work in progress. Every one of our long-term goals is still out there…We will lick our wounds tonight, bright and early tomorrow we will figure out what went wrong and how to adjust. At the end of the day, it is not about plays, it is about the way that we play under pressure. That is my main task this week, to get guys to understand that all you have to do is play the way you are coached to play with fanatical effort and the technique that you are coached to do. We are talented enough to do it, but there are times out there where it is chaos.. We will go to the ends of the earth to figure out why that is, but I am confident that we will have learned the lessons that are presented to us tonight and learn because of it.”
Graduate QB Casey Thompson
“We knew [Ohio] was going to be physical. We knew they were going to be well-coaches and sound. That is exactly what they were tonight. They started to present a few different looks that we were not necessarily gameplanning for. Teams are really smart when they gameplan us because what they show on film is not exactly how they are going to play because they know the weapons that we have at receiver…Overall, we just have to play better. That starts with me at quarterback. We have to run the ball and get a run game going and then in the passing game, we just have to clean up a little bit of details, whether that is an incompletion, accuracy issues, or a dropped pass here or there.”
Senior ILB Eddie Williams
“We lost, so we have to get in the lab and fix our mistakes. We have to start faster…Any loss is a hard pill to swallow. Tomorrow, we have practice, corrections, get better at the stuff we messed up on. Every day we just want to get better and come out with a ‘W’, of course.”
Graduate Safety Jarron Morris
On his first Owl touchdown
“I saw it all the way. I. was reading my keys and I saw him get a signal that he ran on me earlier. I knew he was going to run an out route, so I was just trying my hardest to break down to it. It just came to me.”
OFFENSE
- Wester tallied a game-high 12 receptions for 101 yards. The 12 catches in a game is tied for third most in Florida Atlantic history
- Tony Johnson caught all three of his targets for 28 yards
DEFENSE
- Linebacker Eddie Williams led the game in tackles with 11
- Ambush added eight tackles and a TFL to his interception
- Three Owls forced turnovers: Ambush, Morris and McClendon, all newcomers
SPECIAL TEAMS
- Logan Lupo nailed a 37-yard field goal, his first as an Owl and the first score of the game
- Wester’s 29-yard punt return helped spark a last-minute comeback effort
- Kobe Lewis returned three kicks for 64 yards with a long of 30
UP NEXT
Next Saturday, Sept. 16, the Owls will hit the road for the first time this season in a matchup against the No. 25 Clemson Tigers, broadcasted by the ACC Network. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.
