Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
0-4 , 0-2
Central Michigan
2-2 , 2-0
Eagles Fall in Overtime, 24-17
9/23/2006 9:00:00 PM | Football
Box score.
YPSILANTI – For the third consecutive year, the battle of in-state rivals, Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan, was decided in overtime. This year, CMU snapped a two-game losing streak to EMU, defeating the Eagles, 24-17, in overtime here Saturday afternoon at Rynearson Stadium.
With the loss, Eastern falls to 0-4 (0-2 MAC) while Central improves to 2-2 (2-0 MAC). Redshirt freshman quarterback Andy Schmitt (St. John's Mich.-St. John's) led the Eagles offensively, going 20-for-27 for 129 yards with one touchdown in the air while rushing for 95 yards and one touchdown.
The Eagles were down, 17-10,with 1:39 left in the game when Schmitt marched the team 70 yards capping off the drive with a four--yard touchdown pass to Jacory Stone (Cleveland, Ohio-Glenville) with 13 seconds remaining to tie the game and force overtime. The touchdown was the first of Stone's career.
EMU won the toss and chose to play defense to begin overtime. The Chippewas scored on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Brian Brunner to Bryan Anderson to take a 24-17 lead. On the ensuing drive, redshirt freshman Dontayo Gage (Pontaic, Mich.-Northern) took over at quarterback for the injured Schmitt and led EMU down to the 13-yard line. On fourth-and-eight, he took the snap and attempted to run for the first down but was stopped a yard shy of the first down marker by CMU's Calvin Hissong ending the game.
"I think we're making tremendous progress. And I say that because we went 62 minutes over the past two games of football without giving up any points. This is a program that just a few years ago gave up an NCAA record on defense," said EMU head coach Jeff Genyk.
Defensively for EMU Daniel Holtzcaw (Enid, Okla.-Enid) led the team in tackles with 15 while Jacob Wyatt (Lansing, Mich.-Sexton) tallied 12 tackles with one interception.
Central Michigan sophomore quarterback Brunner went 20-for-29 for 214 yards and accounted for all of CMU's touchdowns passing for the game-winning touchdown in overtime and rushed for two more.
Red Keith led CMU with 13 tackles and one tackle-for-loss while Daniel Bazuin had three tackles and one sack.
"You go into this game and you just expect it," CMU head coach Brian Kelly said, referring to the overtime game. "Its going to be one play and someone is going to make it. They made them in the first two years, and we made one here."
In the first half, EMU took an 3-0 lead on a 27-yard field goal by Andrew Wellock (Canton, Ohio-Green) at the 8:40 mark of the second quarter which held until halftime.
In the third quarter, CMU took a 7-3 lead on a 39 yard touchdown run by Brunner. EMU responded with a one yard touchdown run to give the Eagles a 10-7 lead at the end of the quarter.
The Chippewas added a 25-yard field goal to tie the score, 10-10, in the fourth quarter and took a 17-10 lead on a Brunner 3-yard touchdown run.
Team Stats
CMU 0, EMU 3
EMU - WELLOCK, Andrew 27 yd field goal 11 plays, 61 yards, TOP 5:02
CMU 7, EMU 3
CMU - BRUNNER, Brian 39 yd run (ALBRESKI, Rick kick), 8 plays, 72 yards, TOP 1:29
CMU 7, EMU 10
EMU - SCHMITT, Andy 1 yd run (WELLOCK, Andrew kick), 16 plays, 66 yards, TOP 6:39
CMU 10, EMU 10
CMU - ALBRESKI, Rick 25 yd field goal 13 plays, 64 yards, TOP 4:22
CMU 17, EMU 10
CMU - BRUNNER, Brian 3 yd run (ALBRESKI, Rick kick), 10 plays, 94 yards, TOP 2:59
CMU 17, EMU 17
EMU - STONE, Jacory 4 yd pass from SCHMITT, Andy (WELLOCK, Andrew kick) 7 plays, 70 yards, TOP 1:26
CMU 24, EMU 17
CMU - ANDERSON, Bryan 10 yd pass from BRUNNER, Brian (ALBRESKI, Rick kick) 5 plays, 25 yards, TOP 0:00
