Indy Air Show Too Much for Eagles
November 1, 2003

Complete Box Score

Past tense, present tense, some folks go back and forth between the two when writing, never sure where they should be.

That’s not a problem for the Indianapolis Greyhounds, who thrive in the pass tense.

The Greyhounds’ passing game was on full display Saturday at Ashland’s Community Stadium where Indy aired out the Eagles, 35-24 in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football game. The loss leaves the Eagles at 2-8, 2-7 in GLIAC action. Indy is 5-4 and 4-4.

Senior wide receiver Travis Zike caught seven passes for 122 yards and a touchdown and Cesare Manning, another senior wideout, had four receptions for 84 yards and a pair of scores. The triggerman for this high-wire act, junior quarterback Matt Kohn, was 21 of 36 passing for 319 yards and three touchdowns.

As eye-catching as those numbers are, they had plenty of competition on this afternoon. The AU Football Alumni Day got a little bit of everything in watching the Eagles go down to defeat for the second straight week.

Ashland had an 18-13 lead with 14:36 left in the third quarter after senior Toure Carter returned a kickoff a school record 95 yards for a touchdown. Prior to that, the longest kickoff return in AU history for a score had been 91 yards and that had been performed twice. Carter picked up the bouncing ball along the sideline and it looked like he was hemmed in at the AU5. But he made a quick sidestep and was off to the races.

“Toure Carter is an exceptional football player,” said AU head coach Gary Keller. “He’s been able to come up with big plays for us all year. I can’t say enough good things about him.”

“I just had intentions of returning it,” said Carter, a defensive back by trade, who also lined up at quarterback for a play and took a direct snap on Saturday. “I didn’t think twice about it. When he squibbed it, it took some extra bounces and gave me a chance to see the field. At the end I was about out of gas. My body began to lock up.”

The rest of the Eagles would soon have that same feeling. After that return, the Greyhounds outscored the home team, 22-6. Indianapolis took the lead for good with 3:58 left in the third quarter on a 2-yard run by Kohn. The Greyhounds’ final score came when Kohn found Manning with a 54-yard pass with 7:59 to go in regulation.

When Kohn wasn’t firing the ball skyward junior running back Donnie McCoy was picking his way through the Eagles for 106 yards on the ground. He carried the ball 31 times and scored once. A year ago, he rushed for three touchdowns against AU.

Wait, there’s more. AU junior wide receiver Michael Hull caught five passes for 35 yards and tied the school’s career receptions mark (127). He needs one more reception next week to move past Bob Rosati and claim first place for himself.

The AU special teams, which have been much maligned for a good part of the season, got the Eagles their first score. With 8:48 left in the first quarter redshirt-freshman linebacker Allen Lattimore blocked a punt at the UI28. Indy punter Nick Parker fell on the ball in the end zone for a safety. The only thing that could have been better had been if AU could have picked up the ball and taken it in for a touchdown.

The teams then began trading touchdowns. Kohn found Manning with an 11-yard scoring pass with 57 seconds left in the first quarter and with 8:44 to go until halftime, AU junior tailback Antwan Hart scored on a 31-yard run. Kohn and Zike hooked up on a 38-yard TD pass with 6:50 to go in the first half and Indianapolis led, 13-11.

Carter’s kickoff return early in the third quarter put the Eagles back in front. Indianapolis countered with a 1-yard TD scamper by McCoy with 10:59 to go in the third quarter. Hart’s second touchdown of the day was Ashland’s final score. That was a 1-yard run with 8:13 remaining in the third quarter. The momentum turned the Greyhounds’ way on the PAT. AU went for two points and freshman quarterback Nick Strance’s pass was intercepted by D.J. Henkle. Henkle returned the interception for a two-point defensive PAT. Even with that setback, Ashland still led, 24-21.

“That hurt, but at that point we still had the lead,” reminded Keller. “We’ve got to strap it up and continue to play.”

Indianapolis put the game with those two final scoring drives. The last of those, which ended with the Kohn-to-Manning touchdown pass, capped a seven-play, 96-yard drive. The ‘Hounds had two scoring drives that exceeded 90 yards. The visitors had a commanding, 463-266 edge in total offense. Both teams were dogged by penalties – Indianapolis had 12 infractions for 85 yards and AU was whistled nine times for 94 yards.

“This team’s missed a lot of opportunities all season,” lamented Hull. “It’s not about one person or one group. It’s hard to say what I think overall. We’re just not making plays. Indianapolis made plays.”

Defensively, the Eagles had several players make plenty of plays. Sophomore linebacker Devin Conwell had 20 tackles (11 solo), an interception he returned for 17 yards and two pass breakups. Senior safety Karl Ransom was in on 10 tackles (four solo). Senior defensive lineman Dan Drane, listed among the GLIAC’s tackle for loss leaders all year, had nine tackles (four solo) and two stops behind the line of scrimmage. One of those was a sack for a loss of five yards.

The Eagles have one more chance to get in the win column. Next week, they host Ferris State at 1:25 p.m. Ferris State upset Findlay, 36-29 on Saturday.