Murray State
Austin Peay
Racers Use Total Team Effort in Victory Over Austin Peay
10/4/2008 5:00:00 AM | Football
The Murray State football team put forth a total team effort on Saturday night as the defense recorded four turnovers and Derrick Townsel had another huge evening in the Racers 32-12 victory at Governors Stadium
Townsel did his damage in the first half on his way to a seven catch, 165 yard performance, including a great leaping catch on a 52-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
"This was a great win for us. You know how I feel about these kids and the last four weeks have been rough," said head coach Matt Griffin. "They could have folded at any time and they didn't. They just continued to work hard and it showed on the field tonight."
The Govs (0-6, 0-3 OVC) took advantage of an early Racer mistake as they turned an interception into three points. MSU quickly responded on their next drive as they drove 54 yards on nine plays to convert a 37 yard field goal by Kienan Cullen.
The Racers (2-4, 1-1 OVC) took the lead early in the second quarter as they put together a nine-play drive that ended with Cullen booting his second field goal of the game, this time from 22 yards out. The drive didn't start out good as the Racers went backwards and found themselves staring at a 3rd-and-16. Following a timeout, Ehrhardt hit Harris for 15 yards and then Ehrhardt picked up the needed yard on fourth down. The Racers would get inside the five yard line before the drive stalled.
The MSU defense forced a three-and-out and the offense went right back to work as Ehrhardt scrambled and broke contain and waived his receiver down the field. He then fired a shot that Townsel jumped in the air and pulled down before running into the endzone.
After the second-straight APSU three-and-out, the MSU offense got another big play from Townsel as he took a screen pass and cut back across the middle of the field and raced al the way down to the APSU four yard line on the 43 yard catch and run. Charlie Jordan took the pitch on the next play and outran the defense to the corner for his second rushing touchdown of the season.
The Govs special teams helped APSU put a quick score on the board right before the half as Terrence Holt took the kickoff 66 yards to the MSU 34 and a 15-yard face mask on the play put the ball at 19. Two plays later Jeff Lyle hauled in a 19-yard touchdown pass to send the team's to the locker room with the Racers ahead 20-10.
The opportunistic MSU defense got the scoring going in the third quarter as the Govs started on a drive on their own one-yard line and on the first play Will Roach tackled the running back in the endzone for the first safety since the Eastern Illinois game in 2004.
Cullen gave the Racers a 25-10 advantage when he booted a 35-yard field goal with 5:40 to go in the quarter. Ehrhardt closed out the scoring for MSU when he ran in from 18 yards out with just over four minutes gone in the fourth quarter.
For the game, the Racer offense gained 461 yards, including 157 on the ground. Ehrhardt finished the game by going 25-for-36 for 304 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 53 yards and a score on 10 carries.
Townsel was the big-play guy for the second-straight game as he had 165 yards and a score. Marcus Harris added 69 yards on seven catches.
The defense limited APSU to just 83 yards rushing and 226 overall. A pair of Racers recorded their first career interceptions as Lamar Hall and Nathan Williams each got theirs in the fourth quarter. The defense also recovered a pair of fumbles.
The Racers return to the field next Saturday as they welcome Tennessee Tech to Stewart Stadium for Homecoming. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m.
