Box Score Second half struggles continue for Marauders in loss to Miles on homecomingWILBERFORCE, Ohio - Central State suffered its third straight loss in a 34-9 defeat to Miles College on Saturday afternoon.
For the second straight week, CSU was well within contention going into halftime only to lose by double digits. Both offenses came out with success as Miles went 79 yard touchdown drive on the game's first possession. Junior
Clim Robbins re-energized the crowd of 6,000+ with a 55 yard kick return to MC's 41 yard line. The Marauders took 7 plays to find the end zone as
Moses Vines scored from 1 yard out to knot the score at 7-7. Miles quickly responded with a 22 yard field goal by Nick Christiansen to give the Golden Bears a 10-7 edge with 6:02 remaining in the 1st quarter.
The only points in the 2nd quarter were put up by the CSU defense. After punter
John Adams boomed a 68 yard kick down to the Miles 1 yard line, the Marauders stuffed MC running back Justin Hardy in his own end zone for the safety to pull within 1 point. Robbins appeared to put his imprint on the game again, returning a missed Christiansen field goal 108 yards for a touchdown with 0 seconds left on the clock, igniting the homecoming crow once again. Unfortunately for CSU, the play was called back due to a illegal block in the back as the Marauder points were taken off the board and the teams went into halftime with Miles holding on to the 1-point advantage.
"We continue to preach to guys about being disciplined. It just seems like we have shot ourselves in the foot over these last few weeks," Coach Pearl said. "We have to execute better and we have to make sure to eliminate these mistakes. The penalties really hurt us in the first half and continued to be a plague in the second."
After a 30 minute extended halftime, quarterback
Terrence Wafford was intercepted in his own territory by Jibril Cox. Miles eventually settled for a 46 yard field goal to inflate their lead to 4. On the next MC possession, the Golden Bears went on a 10 play - 89 yard drive capped off by a Jamarcus Nance touchdown from 3 yards out. Cox intercepted Wafford again on the next drive and Miles would go on to find the end zone again to go up 27-9 with 11:48 left in the game. On the first play of CSU's next drive, MC's Caleb Duncan intercepted a pass that slipped through the hands of receiver
Marquis Wells and ran 30 yards to put his team up 34-9 to help seal the victory for his team.
Nance finished the day with 3 rushing scores along with 90 total yards. The Miles offense had a well balanced attack with 288 rushing yards and 207 yards through the air. CSU's offensive woes continued as the unit has scored just two offensive touchdowns during a three game losing streak. Much to the displeasure of the CSU coaching staff, the Marauders committed 12 penalties for 106 yards on the afternoon.
"We can't make these mistakes and expect to win," Pearl said. "We are constantly reminding guys about the importance of playing within the rules of the game. These last three weeks have been very difficult on all of us and our fans. I expect our players to come out with a new found focus to the details and fundamentals as we head into next week's contest against Lane."
With the loss, the Marauders drop to 2-4 overall and sit at 0-2 in the SIAC West Division. Miles improved to a 2-4 ledger with a 2-0 mark in the divisional standings.
The Marauders travel to Jackson, TN to take on Lane College next Saturday at 2 pm. The Dragons (2-4; 0-2) are coming off a 23-19 win over Benedict College.
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