BOX SCORE (PDF)
MOREHEAD, Ky. — While the Eagles didn’t win Saturday at No. 19 Austin Peay, Morehead State football did put up nearly 500 total yards and battled until literally the final play in a 59-35 shootout at the Govs’ Fortera Stadium.
MSU slipped to 1-2 with its second matchup against a top-20 FCS program this fall, but the Eagles recorded 466 total yards and scored five touchdowns, including a long passing score on the last play of the game.
Graduate student QB Mark Pappas attempted a career-high 51 passes, completing 21 for 218 yards and a score to senior WR BJ Byrd. Freshman signal-caller Grady Cramer came on late in the game and threw for a career-high 127 yards on just six completions, including 34 and 47 yard touchdown tosses to sophomore transfer wideout Kyle Daly, who had those only two catches for a team-high 81 yards for his first two career TDs.
On the ground, MSU rushed for 121 yards and got a late ground-game score from freshman Chance Harris for his first career TD.
Defensively the Pioneer League’s top backfield tackler, Vaughn Taylor, Jr., made three and a half stops behind APSU’s line of scrimmage. He now has 7.5 TFLs in the first three games.
Eagle Scoring Plays
– Trailing 8-0, MSU climbed back to 8-6 on Issiah Aguero’s one-yard plunge with 1:36 left in the first quarter. A Pappas to DeVonte Adamsconnection got the Eagles down to the one-yard line on a third and 10 situation.
– MSU fell behind 28-6 at the half, but made it 28-12 with 8:18 left in the third quarter when Pappas found Byrd for a six-yard score. It marked Byrd’s third TD of 2021 and the eighth game of the last nine since the spring he’s caught at least one TD.
– With 1:28 left in the third, graduate student kicker Andrew Foster drilled a 35-yard FG to make it 35-15.
– Trailing 45-15, Harris found paydirt with 7:03 remaining in the game.
– Just two minutes later, Cramer and Daly hooked up on a 34-yard score to make it 52-29.
– Cramer launched a Hail Mary as time expired, and Daly came down with the ball as the clock hit zeros. Foster added the PAT for the final score.
Stats
– The Eagles rank in the PFL and the FCS’s top ranks among passing teams and had 345 passing yards today.
– Aguero led the rushers with 44 yards on 15 carries.
– The Eagles had 27 first downs to the Govs’ 26. Austin Peay finished with 580 total yards.
– Foster, the league’s top punter on average, booted seven punts for a 47.9 per punt.
– MSU was 4-of-4 in the red zone and is now 13-of-13 when playing inside the opponent 20-yard line this season.
– MSU attempted 59 passes, just eight short of the single-game school record for the program, set in 1987.
Next Up
The Eagles have a bye week on Sept. 25 and then open PFL play Oct. 2 at home versus Dayton.