Frostburg State Rallies for 20-13 Victory over Randolph-Macon Football
ASHLAND, VA – Frostburg State University running back Shanorm Young and quarterback Andre Dixon rushed for 175 and 105 yards, respectively as the visiting Bobcats rallied for a 20-13 come from behind victory over Randolph-Macon College on Saturday afternoon.
Randolph-Macon (2-1) was led by Zak Thornton who rushed for 118 yards and a touchdown. Brandon Braner completed 5-17 passes on the day at the quarterback position.
The Bobcats opened the scoring in the first quarter when they went 73 yards on 10 plays in 3:42 to score the first touchdown of the day. Young had 42 yards on the ground on the drive and punched home the score with a rush from five-yards out.
R-MC responded with a 14 play, 71 yard drive at the tail end of the first quarter that resulted in a 21-yard field goal by Scott Shope whose kick made the score 7-3.
After the R-MC defense held FSU on its next possession, the Jackets where set up with good field position when the Bobcats mishandled the punt and Randolph-Macon was able to take over on the visitor’s 10-yard line. After two incomplete passes, Thornton took the third down carry and hit pay dirt to give R-MC a 10-7 lead.
Shope again capped off a long Jacket drive with a 26-yard field goal with 1:42 remaining in the first-half. The drive setting up the field goal went 70 yards in 4:04 and was highlighted by a 17-yard end around to wide receiver Rod Nelson.
The teams exchanged punts at the start of the second-half. FSU then tied the score at 13-13 with 5:03 left in the third when Young scored from two-yards out to give the Bobcats the lead. The Bobcats had a chance to take the lead but its point after attempt missed.
R-MC’s Darius Harris returned the ensuing kick off 60 yards to the Frostburg State 30 yard line to set up good field position for the Jackets. After a pair of rushes from both Braner and Thornton got the ball to the 21, the FSU offense came up with a fourth down stop when Gabe Ellis tackled Thornton for a loss.
The teams again exchanged a series of punts until Frostburg State took over at the Randolph-Macon five yard line with 8:40 remaining after blocking a punt. FSU then used three runs consecutive runs for four yards before Dixon dove over the goal line to give FSU the lead at 20-13 with 6:57 remaining.
After Randolph-Macon fumbled the ensuing kickoff and FSU recovered on the Jackets 37 yard line, the Bobcats drove down to the R-MC 16 yard line but its drive stalled and a 33-yard field goal attempt missed, keeping it a one possession game.
The Yellow Jackets best chance to tie the game came when they took over with just under six minutes left and drove down to the Bobcat 39 yard line but a Thornton fumble was recovered by FSU.
R-MC was led defensively by Ray Johnson who had 15 tackles while Kyle Wiggins had 12 stops. Frazer Najier led FSU with eight tackles while Ellis had seven on the day.
Randolph-Macon will open up its ODAC slate of games next Saturday when it travels to Catholic for a 1:00 p.m. kick off.
-Yellow Jackets-