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Eagle Football grounds and pounds to 48-19 win over Lions in homer opener

MSU Athletics

Senior quarterback Lawson Page rushed for a career-best 146 yards and added three scores through the air to lead the Morehead State football team to a 48-19 victory over the Mount St. Joseph Lions on rainy Saturday night at Jayne Stadium.

Page, who also tossed for 86 yards through the air and three scores, led his offense to a total of 519 yards while racking up 422 yards on the ground. The 422 rushing yards were the most for the Eagles on the ground since joining the Pioneer Football League in 2001.

Joining Page in spearheading the Morehead State ground attack was redshirt freshman running back Jovan Smith, who tallied 104 yards and a touchdown score.

"Overall we had a really nice rushing attack," said head coach Rob Tenyer. "The guys up front made some nice in-game adjustments because they were throwing a lot of looks at us and doing it late in the play clock."

Coach Tenyer added that he would like to see his quarterback take fewer hits as the season goes along.

"I'm not sure if Lawson has ever played baseball but I wouldn't mind to see him take a lesson in sliding," he joked.

The Eagles found pay dirt through the air in the game's opening stages, as Page found sophomore receiver Sugar Ray Wyche twice for scores. The first came on the game's opening drive as Page found Wyche for 11 yards to cap off a six-play, 56-yard drive. Later in the opening stanza the Wyche collected his second touchdown reception, this time for 13 yards to finish a seven-play, 70-yard march down the field.

Morehead State then turned to its running backs in the second quarter to extend its lead to 35-0. Junior Chris Nelson found the end zone for the first time as an Eagle when he powered his way in from six-yards out with 14:54 to go in the half. Senior back Arien Beasley added another Eagles' score from nine yards out with 8:54 on the clock, which was followed almost three minutes later by Smith's one-yard dive for six.

Mount St. Joseph scored its first TD of the game on a 46-yard scoring toss from quarterback Chaiten Tomlin to receiver A.J Glines with 2:34 remaining until the half. The Eagles responded by executing a masterful two-minute drive, capped off by Page's third touchdown through the air as junior wide out Jordan Huffman snatched a ball for an 11-yard touchdown to give Morehead State the 42-6 advantage at the break.

The Lions scored twice in the third to pull themselves within 42-19.

Beasley found the end zone for the second time of the game in the fourth to pull the Eagles ahead to what became the final 48-19 score

"Lawson had a nice game overall, and while we didn't particularly throw the ball well tonight we made up for it with a great rushing game as a team," said the coach.

The Eagle defense limited the Lions, who entered the game coming off a 600-yard effort last week, to 282 total yards. Redshirt sophomore Kalen Carson led the effort with eight stops, while redshirt junior lineman Jeremiah Draper notched 1.5 of the four sacks on the night.

Morehead State stays at home for another prime-time matchup next Saturday at Austin Peay comes to Jayne Stadium for Family Weekend. The game will kick off at 6:05 p.m. ET and can been watched live on ESPN +.

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