Alex Gillett ran for a 30-yard touchdown with 37 seconds remaining Saturday to send Eastern Michigan University to a 35-28 win against Central Michigan University on at Mt. Pleasant.
It was the first time EMU defeated the Chippewas since the 2008 season finale under former coach Jeff Genyk.
Alex Gillett was 6-of-8 passing with 76 yards, and he ran for 93 yards on 11 rushes. The Eagles were led by defensive back Latarrius Thomas with 13 tackles while defensive back Willie Williams added 11 tackles, including two tackles-for-loss. Javonti Greene led the Eagles’ rushing game with 96 yards on 19 carries for three touchdowns. Dominique White ran for 161 yards on 19 carries.
Ryan Radcliff, who went 33-for-50 passing for 351 yards and three touchdowns and one interception, led the Chippewas. Tim Phillips recorded 54 yards on eight carries while Cody Wilson had nine receptions for 103 yards. On the last drive for CMU, Marcell Rose intercepted a Hail Mary pass in the end zone to seal the victory.
The Eagles will return home to play Western Michigan at 1 p.m. Saturday for their homecoming game Rynearson Stadium.
EMU (4-3, 2-1 Mid-American Conference) was coming off at Toledo while Central Michigan (2-5, 1-2 MAC) came back home after losing on the road to North Carolina State.
The status of the health of Greene and Dominique Sherrer was questionable coming into the game.
The Eagles entered Saturday’s contest ranked third in offensive rushing attack in the MAC and 25th in the nation. EMU ran 50 times for 350 yards and five touchdowns.
“When we run the ball and stop the run we win games,” EMU coach Ron English said.
Central Michigan got the ball to start but went three plays and out on its first drive. EMU got the ball and constructed a solid drive that ended with a 46-yard field-goal attempt, which Kody Fulkerson missed wide left.
CMU would then march down the field, and David Harman made a 28-yard field goal, giving the Chippewas a 3-0 lead at the 5:20 mark. The next drive for EMU resulted in a touchdown from a 1-yard run by White, giving the Eagles a 7-3 lead.
The next EMU drive featured a 66-yard run by White, but struggled to put the ball in the end zone, resorting to a 39-yard field-goal attempt, which Fulkerson missed wide right.
CMU responded by making another Harman field goal, this time from 41 yards, reducing the EMU lead to 7-6. The score would hold up as both teams headed to the locker room at halftime.
“The Greene and White! The Greene and White did a nice job today,” English said of the running backs.
“Javonti practiced well this week. He did a great job practicing this week, and I knew he was going to play well. And then Domo came out early and just really made some runs. They did a nice job inside he
found some runs and made some big plays. We knew we had to run the ball to win the game today particularly with the way the weather is.”
On its first possession of the second half, EMU on every play, capping it off with a 36-yard touchdown run by Greene to put EMU ahead 14-6.
CMU answered back when Radcliff found David Blackburn in the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown and CMU trailed by just one point.
Greene added another touchdown score with his 2-yard run to give EMU the lead, 21-13, early in the fourth quarter. CMU went three and out on its next possession, but the punt was blocked and returned by Nate Paopao to the CMU 5-yard line. Gillett would hand the ball off to Greene, who went in for the touchdown to put EMU ahead 28-13.
“Tom Burpee (special-teams coach) asked me did we want to do it, and I said, ‘Let’s go Tom,’ ” English said. “The execution was fabulous, and it was a big play for us. I credit Tom on that. He knew that we’d have a chance to block that punt, and it happened exactly the way he said it would happen.”
Central Michigan did not go down quietly as Radcliff completed an 11-yard pass to Titus Davis to bring the Chippewas within, 28-20, with 3:36 left.
CMU scored another touchdown on its next possession and made the two point conversion to tie the game. However, when EMU got the ball back, it only took three plays, including a 30-yard run by Gillett, to put the Eagles ahead 35-28.
“The one thing about rivalry games is you have to be able to win them in the end,” English said. “There are tremendous highs and tremendous lows. But what happens is that both sides keep playing
because it means so much to everybody. So it wasn’t a surprise for the game to go the way it went.
“These are trophy games, this is a trophy game (for the MAC Michigan trophy), we play another trophy game next week. We’re just so excited to be in the position we’re in right now. We just said that we wanted to play our hearts out for each other and play as hard as we could for each other and play as hard as we could for each other, and see if we could do it for four quarters.”
