WILBERFORCE, Ohio -- Entering Saturday with a perfect 5-0 record in conference play, the SIAC leading Tuskegee University Tigers narrowly escaped the cold and windy conditions with a 28-25 win over the Central State Marauders.
After CSU's opening drive ended with a bad snap on a John Adams field goal attempt. Tuskegee jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead with drives of 65 and 89 yards, both capped off by Michael Thornton touchdowns. Winning their last 5 games by an average point margin of 33.6 points, the Tigers looked to be on schedule for another one sided outcome.
CSU quarterback Michael Wilson would derail any plans of a TU blow out, leading the Marauders on a 43 yard drive with a 15 yard strike to tight end Roy Reed. After a failed extra point attempt, the Tuskegee lead was cut to 8.
Narrowly missing a blocked punt on the next TU drive, the Marauders regained possession at the Tuskegee 43 and found the end zone again on a Moses Vine 4 yard run with 3:03 left in the 2nd quarter.. Opting to go for 2 points, a Michael Wilson rush came up a yard short as the score remained 14-12 in favor of the Tigers going into halftime.
The 3rd quarter did not go as planned for Coach Pearl and the Marauders as Tuskegee found the end zone again on their first two possessions. Thornton, who finished with a game high 198 rushing yards, found daylight for a 57 yard touchdown run to push the Tiger lead to 21-12.
Later in the quarter, backup quarterback Justin Nared put the Tigers up 28-12 with a 27 yard pass to Larry Cobb.
With Tuskegee driving in Central State territory, CSU's Gervell Morgan and Kevin Carter stripped the ball from Thornton. Freshman Okoye Bozeman recovered the loose ball and ran 50 yards down to the Tuskegee 45 before being forced out of bounds.
Wilson would finish the drive with his second rushing touchdown of the afternoon from 8 yards out to cut the lead to 28-19 at the 3:57 mark of the 3rd quarter. The CSU defense came up with another crucial play early in the 4th quarter as Dashad Tucker forced another Thornton fumble at Central's 22 yard line.
Driving down to the Tuskegee 31 yard line, Coach Pearl decided to go for it on 4th and 18. His decision payed off after Wilson's heave to the end zone deflected off two Tuskegee defenders and into the arms of Christ Murray for a 31 yard touchdown.
With the score 28-25, Tuskegee drove down to Central's 19 yard line. The Tigers ran an unsuccessful fake field goal pass play to give the ball back to Wilson and the Marauders with 4:55 remaining. After two first downs on the drive, the Marauders were just outside of kicker John Adams range at the 40 yard line. Facing 4th down with 5 yards to go, Wilson's pass to running back Isaiah Grooms fell incomplete with 1:10 left as TU took over on downs and was able to run the clock out to end the game.
With the win Tuskegee, improved to 7-2 overall and 6-0 in the SIAC West Division. Central State, which had its 3 game home winning streak snapped, fell to 3-6 and 2-4 in the division.
Wilson finished with 157 yards and 2 touchdowns through the air and ran for another 193 yards on the afternoon. Tucker finished with 10.5 tackles to lead the CSU defense.
Central State will finish the season next Saturday when they host Lane College at 1 pm. The senior class will be honored in a ceremony during pregame.
COURTESY CENTRAL STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
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