KALAMAZOO — The football team couldn’t have started today’s
game at Western Michigan any better.

It scored two touchdowns on its first two possessions to take
a 14-0 lead late in the first quarter.

But then Western’s senior wide receiver Greg Jennings took
over, and the Chippewas couldn’t recover.

“Greg Jennings simply is too tough to match up to,” said CMU
coach Brian Kelly. “We just didn’t have an answer for him.”

Jennings caught touchdown passes of 76 and 40 yards from
freshman quarterback Tim Hiller en route to the Bronco’s 31-24
win against CMU at Waldo Stadium.

The 76-yard touchdown came a play after CMU kicker Rick
Albreski missed a 41-yard field goal that would have given the
Chippewas (5-5, 4-3 Mid-American Conference) a 17-0 lead.

“(Hiller) hit me well, and since the safety was down so far I
was able to split the two defenders and score,” Jennings, who
finished with nine catches for 171 yards, said.

CMU freshman tailback Ontario Sneed fumbled on its next
possession, giving Western the ball at its own 7-yard line.

It took one play for Hiller to throw a touchdown pass to
freshman wide receiver Jamarko Simmons. Hiller was 15-of-28
for 212 yards and four touchdowns.

After CMU’s offense nearly yielded a safety, Western (7-3, 5-2
MAC) got the ball back at CMU’s 40-yard line. And, just like
WMU’s previous two scoring drives, it took Hiller only one
play to find Jennings for the 40-yard touchdown strike.

“I was proud the way our guys stayed composed after being down
14-0,” said WMU coach Bill Cubit. “Those three one-play drives
helped, and we didn’t turn the ball over until late.”

CMU senior quarterback Kent Smith threw an interception on its
next drive and the Broncos capitalized once again, this time
driving 79 yards in 13 plays, culminating in a 4-yard
touchdown pass from Hiller to senior tight end Tony Scheffler.
They took a 28-14 lead into halftime.

CMU’s offense remained stagnant in the second hal,, and Smith
threw two more interceptions. But WMU only could muster three
points on a 25-yard field goal from junior kicker Nate Meyer.
“We had four crucial turnovers,” Kelly said. “From our
standpoint, that’s the reason we lost the game.”

Central’s defense stiffened in the second half and gave the
Chippewas a chance to come back, which they almost did.
They scored on a 2-yard run by Sneed with 5:17 remaining,
making the score 31-21.

Western was faced with third-and-eight, and Hiller completed a
pass to Scheffler for what would have been a first down.

But CMU junior linebacker Isaac Brown stripped the ball away
and returned it to WMU,s 32-yard line.

Albreski kicked a 22-yard field goal with 3:14 left, making
the score 31-24.

After stopping Western on three plays, CMU got the ball back
with 1:00 left at its own 20-yard line. Despite completing a
few first downs, Smith was left to heave a Hail Mary pass as
time expired, and the ball fell incomplete.

“That was do or die for us. We practice that every Thursday in
practice; the two-minute drill,” Smith said. “It just didn’t
work for us today.”

Smith set three school records with 460 passing yards, 70 pass
attempts and 46 completions. The 70 pass attempts also were a
MAC record.

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