Rockets, Taylor blast way past Chippewas, 41-0

It’s time to regroup.
For the second week in a row the CMU football team was man handled. This time
it happened on the road to Mid-American Conference rival Toledo 41-0.
The Rockets wasted little time putting the game away when on their opening possession
they marched the ball 91-yards on 12 plays only taking 4:35 off the clock.
The drive was capped off by a Chester Taylor 23-yard run at 10:25 left in the
first.
On the ensuing kickoff Central’s Steve Messam fumbled on the return to give
Toledo excellent field position. The Rockets stalled on the drive and had to settle
for a Todd France 31-yard field goal.
Central was forced to punt on its next possession, but punter Brian Brandt let
a bad one go to let the Rockets have the ball on the Chippewas 48-yard line.
Again Toledo used the mistake to it advantage when Toledo quarterback Tavares
Bolden call his own number and capped off the 48-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown
run. The run made the score 17-0 at the end of first and Central would not recover.
“They just out played us,” head coach Mike DeBord said. “We were
just ineffective, we didn’t run the ball we didn’t throw it.”
Central’s defense showed signs of life when Tedaro France intercepted a Bolden
pass in the end zone to put a stop on another Toledo drive.
However, France would prove to be the only bright spot for the night.
On the next possession the Chippewas were faced with third and short when Pete
Shepherd dropped back and was sacked by Ira Singleton.
Toledo’s next drive belonged to Taylor once again when he took the ball two
yards for his second touchdown of the game and seventh of the year.
The run capped a 58-yard drive which took nine plays and just 3:03 off the clock.
Taylor also went over 100-yards for the night on the drive.
“I just went out there and played my hardest,” Taylor said.
He would end his night early with 152-yards on 24 carries and the two touchdowns.
The half was brought to a close with a 10-yard touchdown run by Antwon McCray
making the score 31-0.
The Rocket’s came into the game fresh off a 21-14 loss at the hands of Western
Michigan and still had that on their minds.
“We let last week go, except for the hurt,” Toledo Head Coach Gary Pinkel
said.
Central’s loss was the first time it had been shutout in the series which
started in 1928. It also marked the worse loss for the Chippewas in the series
topping the 41-10 setback in 1997.
The Chippewa offense and defense both struggled again. The offense was only able
to muster eight first downs and gain 168 total yards. The running game was nonexistent
only producing 43-yards on 24 touches.
On the flip side the Central defense allowed Toledo 29 first downs and 457 total
offensive yards, 311 of those yards coming on the ground.
“We’re just not taking our execution from the practices into the games,”
DeBord said. “We have physical practices. We just got to do better in the
games.”
Central gets a chance to recover when its hosts Kent State for homecoming Saturday
at 1 p.m.