INDIANAPOLIS – Butler found the win column over homecoming weekend by recording a 24-21 win over Morehead State on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles had a ball in the air to win the game with the play clock hitting zero, but the Bulldog defense would stand strong and deny the Hail Mary to secure the victory.
Scoring opened up early in the first quarter with QB
Will Marty hitting
Stephen Dennis for an 11-yard TD pass. Morehead State would counter with a QB sneak from a yard away to knot the score at 7-7.
Momentum stayed with visitors as a BU interception would set up a short field for the Eagles. Beasley would take a carry to the end zone from seven yards out to give MSU a 14-7 lead with 11:38 to play.
The two evenly matched teams would head into halftime tied up at 14-14 after a rushing TD from
Brad Sznajder. The redshirt-junior eclipsed 100-yards on the ground for the second time this season. He took 24 carries to accumulate his 105 rushing yards. He also caught one pass for 10 yards.
Butler's first score of the second half was a deep ball from Marty to
Pace Temple. Temple moved inside of the defensive back and won the jump ball to give the 'Dawgs the seven-point lead. Temple led the team with five catches for 85 yards.
BU would add some insurance points in the fourth quarter off a 42-yard
Drew Bevelhimer field goal. The 24-14 advantage would shrink to just three points with Morehead connecting on a 20-yard TD pass from Page to Richards.
Crunch time belonged to the Bulldog defense in this one as
Devin Aguilar would get the team's first interception of the season for a much-needed stop and the BU secondary would drift back to the goal line and knock down the final pass attempt.
Butler consistently put pressure on Morehead State thanks to the high level of play from
Mickey Kane and
Mark Geers. Kane came up with his first three sacks of his collegiate career and Geers would live in the backfield to record a sack, a forced fumble and a QB hurry.
Mason Brunner was a driving force for the Butler defense with a team-high 12 tackles.
Luke Sennett joined him with a double figure tackle total by adding 10.
The Bulldogs will return to action next Saturday when they travel to Des Moines, Iowa to play Drake. Kick-off is slated for 2 PM.
