Flashes blow by Ohio 44-13 in 2013 football finale

ATHENS, Ohio – Dri Archer capped his Kent State career with a three-touchdown performance as the Golden Flashes closed the 2013 regular season with a 44-13 win at Ohio University on Tuesday night.

The senior speedster gave the Flashes a 10-6 lead early in the second quarter on a 24-yard touchdown run, extended another lead with a 5-yard scamper early in the third quarter, then put the exclamation point on the victory and his grand farewell with a 29-yard scoring run in the game's closing minutes.

Archer finished with 138 rushing yards on 15 carries and another 53 yards on five catches. His last two touchdowns helped Kent State close the game with 34 unanswered points after falling behind 13-10 early in the second quarter.

"It's awesome. The kids are excited, and I'm excited for them," said Kent State head coach Paul Haynes. "We probably played our best game tonight, which is awesome to sit there and see them put all three phases together ... Dri is awesome, and our offensive line did a good job of blocking. The receivers did a good job blocking on the perimeter. You don't make big runs without everyone else doing their job. It's a team effort, and Dri played awesome tonight."

The Kent State runaway also served as a celebration of the comebacks of both Nate Terhune and Anthony Melchiori from leg injuries suffered earlier in the season

Terhune returned to action on Oct. 12 at Ball State, just four weeks after breaking his lower leg in a game at Louisiana State. On Tuesday he capped his comeback by taking a fake punt 61 yards for a touchdown with 8:10 to play in the third quarter. Just for good measure, Terhune hurdled Bobcats punt returner Daz'Mond Patterson at the 40 yard line as he rumbled down the Ohio sideline.

"It was unbelievable," said Haynes. "After (Terhune) got the first down I was excited, and then I saw he did a little leap, and I was more excited. He is a great player. It doesn't surprise me because of his work ethic and his drive, but, hopefully, that will make ESPN's Top Ten."

A little more than a month ago, Haynes said Melchiori was unlikely to return from injury before the 2013 season came to an end. Instead, the kicker his way back to play last week as the Flashes' beat Miami in the season's final home game at Dix Stadium. On Tuesday Melchiori converted 3-of-4 field goal attempts, including a 47-yarder to tie the game at 3-3 with 10:06 to play in the first quarter.

Melchiori's kicks of 26 and 28 yards in the fourth quarter continued a second-half roll that saw the Flashes out-score the Bobcats 27-0 in the final 30 minutes. Kent State grabbed a 17-13 lead going into the half when Colin Reardon lofted an 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Casey Pierce with 31 seconds to play in the second quarter.

Ohio took its last lead at 13-10 when Tyler Tettleton found Mario Dovell for a 1-yard touchdown with 10:04 remaining in the second. The only other Bobcats points came on field goals of 20 and 49 yards by Josiah Yardani in the first quarter.

The Golden Flashes dominated the box score, out-gaining the Bobcats 537-to-204. That total included 312 rushing yards by Kent State to just 69 for Ohio.

Reardon closed his redshirt freshman season with 213 yards on 18-of-29 passing. He also added 53 rushing yards on seven attempts. Fifth-year senior Tyshon Goode caught five passes for 55 yards in his final game in a Kent State uniform.

Tettleton completed 11-of-24 for 132 yards, but the Ohio quarterback also suffered a third-quarter interception by Malcom Pannell that was the game's only turnover.

The Golden Flashes completed their first season under Haynes at 4-8 overall and 3-5 in Mid-American Conference play. Ohio (6-5, 3-4) will close its season next week when it hosts Massachusetts.

"To send our seniors out the right way on a two-game winning streak is good for our program going into the offseason," said Haynes. "To come out with two good wins just catapults us to have a good offseason."

Postgame Notes

Senior Roosevelt Nix had six tackles, a forced fumble and a tackle for loss. He finished his career with a Kent State record 65.0 tackles for loss, 10 ahead of second place Micahael Zele (1975-78). He totaled 12 forced fumbles and 24.0 sacks, one behind KSU's career sack leader Justin Parrish.
Nose tackle Nate Terhune ran 61 yards for his first career touchdown on a fake punt. He has two career carries for 92 yards on fake punts.
Senior Dri Archer scored his 38th, 39th and 40th career touchdowns bring his season total to 11. He moved into second place among Kent State's career leaders in touchdowns, just one behind leader Josh Cribbs (41). He finished third in career all-purpose yards with 4,980. Archer moved into a tie for ninth place with Trayion Durham in career rushing touchdowns (24). Archer ranks ninth in career rushing yards with 2,267. His 2,405 rushing yards are the ninth most in KSU history
Sophomore Anthony Melchiori made a career-long 47-yard field goal. He made a career-high three field goals.
Junior Malcolm Pannell had his second interception in as many games and third of the season.
Senior Tyshon Goode finished his career second in career receptions with 181, second in receiving yards with 2,272 and third in touchdown catches with 14. He made five grabs for 55 yards Tuesday night.
Senior Luke Wollet finished tied for seventh in career interceptions with 12 and totaled 279 career tackles.
Junior Chris Humphrey has made a catch in 20 straight games.
Redshirt freshman Colin Reardon went his second straight game without throwing an interception.
Freshman Nate Holley made a career-high 12 tackles.

Kent State's 44 points scored were the most this season. It was the Flashes' largest margin of victory this season.
The Flashes allowed just two touchdowns in their final three games.
Kent State won back-to-back games for the first time this season.
The Flashes have won eight straight weeknight games.
Kent State earned wins over its two rivals from the southern part of the state (Ohio & Miami) in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1986-87.

The Flashes ran for over 300 yards for the second straight game.
Kent State's 29 first downs and 537 yards of total offense were season-highs.
Ohio's opening drive was an opponent's eighth straight trip to the redzone without scoring a touchdown.
The Flashes have won five of the last seven meetings against Ohio and are 5-4 against the Bobcats during the Frank Solich era.

Ohio Head Coach Frank Solich

Opening statement

"We're a football team that's spiraling down, and we're struggling trying to bring ourselves out of it."

On game's turning point

"The punting game fell apart. That was very costly. As the second half unfolded, we weren't able to put together third-down conversions to keep ourselves on the field."

On team's struggles in the second half of the season

"It's a mystery, in terms of, we played pretty well after the Louisville game for a stretch there, played some pretty good football teams in Marshall and North Texas State. I thought that we would be a football team that, as the season went on, we would get better and better, but that has not materialized."

On team's focus

"Focus is something that you always address as a coach to your team. That's something that you continually need to keep coming back to, because, obviously, without focus – regardless of talent – you aren't going to be very good."

On redshirt senior cornerback Travis Carrie

"He is a strong competitor, and to play banged up says a lot for him. He didn't practice this week, and so to be able to come back and play strong is a sign of what his character is all about."

Tyler Tettleton: Ohio Quarterback

On next week's regular season finale against UMass

"We want to finish this thing off right. I know I do. I am trying to win this last game and I know the seniors feel the same way."

On team's offensive struggles in the final three quarters

"We were making plays. We were moving fast and the tempo was good. I don't know if we lost track of that or just weren't executing later in the game."

Nathan Carpenter: Ohio Safety

On Kent State running back Dri Archer

"We contained him fairly well, but he broke loose on a coupe big plays that hurt us."

On team's defensive struggles

"Our defense came out pretty strong and played well. Things don't always go your way. You have a few bad punts and get put in bad field position. A lot of other things account for that as well. Our defense didn't step up and stop them."

Kent State Head Coach Paul Haynes

On finishing season strong

"To send our seniors out the right way on a two-game winning streak is good for our program going into the offseason. To come out with two good wins just catapults us to have a good offseason."

On team's emotions after the game

"It's awesome. The kids are excited, and I'm excited for them. We probably played our best game tonight, which is awesome to sit there and see them put all three phases together."

On important of ending the season strong

"It's very important, because we can sit there and break them down a little bit more in the offseason, and then we will build them back up. For them to have the confidence to play so well is huge going into the offseason."

On fifth-year senior running back Dri Archer's performance

"Dri is awesome, and our offensive line did a good job for blocking. The receivers did a good job blocking on the perimeter, but you don't make big runs without everyone else doing their job. It's just a team effort, and Dri played awesome tonight."

On junior defensive lineman Nate Terhune's fake punt run for a TD

"It was unbelievable. After he got the first down I was excited, and then I saw he did a little leap, and I was more excited. He is a great player. It doesn't surprise me because of his work ethic and his drive, but, hopefully, that will make ESPN's Top Ten."

Kent State Defensive Lineman Nate Terhune

On his fake punt run for a touchdown

"I had visualized that leap since last year when we played Bowling Green, and I tried to hurdle that guy and didn't get my leg high enough. That's how I had imagined the play to go all along, but I couldn't have done it without the guys up front getting good blocks. I just had to beat one guy."

On trending on Twitter

"Pretty cool. I don't have a Twitter, so I won't be able to check myself, but that's pretty cool to know."

On "Fat Guy Touchdown" reference

"I think I saw that, too. I'll embrace it. That's fine with me."

On emotion in the locker room after the game

"We were all pretty happy. The season itself didn't start out the way we wanted it to, but we finished it the way it should have. That was huge for the seniors, and I was just so happy for them."

Kent State University Athletics

Flashes blow by Ohio 44-13 in 2013 football finale

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