GREENWOOD, Ind. - For Great Midwest Athletic Conference institutions playing the emerging sport of football, only Central State University was able to put a tally in the win column over the past weekend.
Kentucky Wesleyan College was able to hang with FCS affiliate Murray State University for a strong half while Alderson Broaddus University was on the short end against another FCS program in Duquesne University.
Only two games remain in the regular season schedule for Kentucky Wesleyan and Central State while Alderson Broaddus has a trio of games left, including two home matchups in Philippi.
Duquesne 48, Alderson Broaddus 27
Duquesne scored a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to eventually pull away Alderson Broaddus as both teams moved to 5-3 on the year.
The Battlers trailed 21-10 after the first, but on the opening drive of the second quarter AB drove 75 yards in eight plays capped by a Wilson Vaughn five yard touchdown run to cut the edge to 21-17.
The teams traded field goals at the end of the first half with the Dukes getting a 23 yarder with 1:34 remaining in the second quarter. Phillip Warner connected on a 46-yard field goal as time ran out in the half to cut the Duquesne edge to 24-20 going into the locker room.
Donovan Olumba came up big defensively for the AB defense. Late in the third quarter, Olumba intercepted a pass and returned it across the field 47 yards for the touchdown cutting the Duquesne advantage to 34-27.
Duquesne started the game fast taking the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. The Battlers had the answer going 54 yards in nine plays finished by a Brandon Jones two-yard plunge leveling the score 7-7 with 11:42 remaining in the first quarter.
Jones finished the day with 58 yards rushing and seven yards receiving and one touchdown.
Wilson went 20-of-26 through the air for 181 yards and rushed for a score. Isaac Silafau led the AB receiving corps with four grabs for 44 yards.
Murray State 86, Kentucky Wesleyan 29
The Racers from Murray State set a single game school scoring record by three points (83 vs. Campbellsville) as they took care of business against Kentucky Wesleyan at home for an in-state clash.
Dalton Oliver threw for 336 yards and two touchdowns by connecting on 29 of 47 passes with no interceptions in Kentucky Wesleyan's 86-29 loss at Murray State.
Xavier Mitchell caught nine passes for 102 yards and one touchdown. Keelan Cole grabbed six passes for 68 yards.
Cole Woodburn put the Panthers on the scoreboard with a 30-yard field goal with 6:01 in the first quarter. Mitchell followed with a 22-yard reception from Oliver with 30 seconds left to cut the Racer's lead to 27-10.
KWC then scored 19 points in the second quarter. David White ran for a one-yard touchdown at the 9:30 mark and again with a two-yard run with 2:56 left and closed the second by catching a two-yard pass from Oliver with 43 seconds on the clock and a Woodburn kick to close the gap to 41-29 at the half.
The Racers scored the final 45 points of the game and accumulated over 400 yards of rushing on the ground. Marcus Holliday and KD Humphries each had two rushing scores as the ground attack totaled seven touchdowns on handoffs.
Central State 41, Stillman 14
Central State puts the clamps on defensively, holding Stillman in check for an eventual rout in Wilberforce.
Senior quarterback Michael Wilson scored his sixth rushing touchdown of the season, evading three Tiger defenders to score from seven yards out in the second quarter.
CSU leading rusher Isaiah Grooms ran for a score with 1:55 remaining in the first half, capping off an 11 play, 65-yard drive to give the Marauders a 17-0 advantage.
The Marauders scored 21 points in the second half with touchdowns from Grooms, Moses Vine and Zach Thomas to build a 41-7 edge with seven minutes left in the game.
Stillman, which averaged nearly 478 yards per game, was held to just 267 yards of total offense. Led by Wilson's arm and legs, the CSU offense totaled 433 yards.
Wilson finished with 173 yards and a touchdown through the air and picked up another 87 yards on the ground. Vine led all rushers with 97 yards. Thomas finished with a game-high 82 receiving yards.
The Marauder defense was led by Artrell McMillan's 5.5 tackles and 2.5 sacks. Joseph Blount finished with six tackles followed by five from Kevin Carter.