Owls Lose a Wet and Windy One to Samford 28-23
Birmingham, AL, – The Kennesaw State Owls coming off an 8-3 2016 campaign looked to start their 2017 season with a W against the No. 19 ranked Samford Bulldogs in Seibert Stadium.
With the remnants of Hurricane Harvey making it’s way to Birmingham the Owls knew they were in a fight against the Bulldogs and nature.
The Bulldogs started the game slow with very little ball movement. With a quick three and out the Bulldogs were forced to punt.
Chandler Burks came out quick with a 38-yard completion to Justin Sumpter set the Owls up for a quick score. The Owls were then held to a 4th and three and coach Bohannon decided to go for it. Unfortunately they were stopped by the Bulldogs and lost the ball on downs.
This seemed to be a theme for the Owls as they again lost the ball on downs after a 50-yard attempt by Justin Thompson that came up short. This led to a scoreless first quarter in Seibert Stadium.
The second quarter was completely different for the Owls as Bronson Rechstiener kept the ball moving with his legs. This led to a 12-play 92-yard drive by the Owls that was capped by a 2-yard rushing touchdown by Jake McKenzie and an extra point by Thompson to give the Owls the 7-0 lead with 11:01 left in the first half.
The Bulldogs responded with a quick four play, 60-yard drive that took just over one minute. Making it 7-7 with 9:47 left in the half.
It was a back and forth with the Owls marching down field but giving the ball up again with a Burks fumble on a rush with plenty of time for the Bulldogs to put points on the board. Again, the stout Owls defense stopped them cold.
The owls had one more chance to put points up and did so after a 3-minute 13-play 97-yard drive that ended with 18-yard field goal by Thompson. This made it 10-7 Owls heading into the locker rooms at half.
This was just in time as Harvey decided to make his presence known and dowse the fans at the stadium just as the clock ran to zero.
After a nearly 3-hour weather delay the Owls and Bulldogs retook the field. They did so knowing that if the game is called that it would be a wash. No stats would be recorded and the teams would start week two as being 0-0 on the season.
The Owls received the ball at the half and had a quick three and out and were forced to punt. The Bulldogs took full advantage of the chance and marched down the field with an 8-play 70-yard drive. It took only 3-minutes for Samford QB Devlin Hodges to lead his team down field and to connect with Andrew Harris with a 28-yard completion for the TD. For the first time in the game the Bulldogs were on top at 14-10.
After another Owls three and out they were forced to punt. The Bulldogs blew through the line and got a hand on it. This gave Samford the ball on the Owls 18. Hodges quickly tossed it in for another touchdown making it 21-10.
The Owls were not going to give up. After a defensive stop, Akebren Ralls blocked the punt and the ball rolled out of bounds at the Bulldogs 3-yard line. A few plays later, Jake McKenzie punched it in for the Owls first touchdown of the second half. Thompson added the extra point making the score 21-17 Samford early in the fourth quarter.
Hodges then showed the home crowd why he is on the Walter Payton Award watch list by lofting a perfectly placed 58-yard touchdown pass to Samford’s Kelvin Knight. After another extra point the Bulldogs started again pull away from the Owls with a score of 28-17.
Again, the Owls were not in the mood to lose. After another Bulldogs turnover the Owls got the ball on the 18-yard line deep in Samford territory. Coach Bohannon decided to dig deep into his playbook and call a trick play. Jake McKenzie who was a high school quarterback took the hand off and found TJ Reed in the end zone. This made it a five point game.
The Owls knew that they needed to get the score within three so they went for the 2-point conversion but it was tipped by a Bulldog defender.
The Owls defense was not in control. They stopped Samford after only 5-yards and forced the Bulldogs to punt. This gave the Owls the ball back with two minutes left and only down by five.
Coach Bohannon again went to his workhorse Rechsteiner who caught a Burks pass for 25-yards moving the ball into Bulldog territory with 1:30 left in the game.
On fourth down Burks went deep to Justin Sumpter but the ball just didn’t stick to his hands and after a bobble it squirted out and that was the heartbreaking end to the game.
The Owls fought hard but didn’t put the pieces together in the second half to get the W.
KSU starts the season 0-1.
Source: ksuowlssports.com
Link: Owls Lose a Wet and Windy One to Samford 28-23