Chippewas hold off late Akron surge to win MAC opener

A 21-0 lead at home in the third quarter isn't safe in the Mid-American Conference.

And the Central Michigan University football team found out first hand Saturday against Akron.

The Chippewas led 21-0 with 7:39 remaining in the game, but had to hold off a late Akron rally to win 24-21 before 20,097 fans at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

"That is a (typical) MAC game," said CMU coach Brian Kelly. "I told the team that if you win a football game in the MAC, you need to feel good about it, it doesn't matter who it is."

For the second consecutive season, UA's Luke Getsy threw three interceptions against the Chippewas.

None was bigger than his second interception on consecutive plays in the second quarter. His first pass was intercepted by freshman safety Calvin Hissong, but he fumbled after catching the ball and it was recovered by Akron.

The next play, Getsy threw a slant pass to the left side of the field that was intercepted by freshman cornerback Josh Gordy, who ran 100 yards for a touchdown to give CMU a 14-0 lead.

"I bit on the slant," Gordy said. "Luckily, I was there for the opportunity for the taking and took it."

The interception return for a touchdown tied a Kelly/Shorts Stadium record for longest return. In college football the maximum distance a return can be is 100 yards.

CMU added a third touchdown midway through the third quarter on a 3-yard run by junior Victor Doman. It was his first career touchdown on his first career carry.

Getsy finally got going late in the third quarter when he connected on a 16-yard touchdown pass to Jabari Arthur.

The touchdown capped off a 95-yard scoring drive.

The Zips had a chance to cut the lead to seven on their next drive, but failed to score on four tries from inside the 5-yard line. Three running plays got them to the 1-yard line, but Getsy overthrew Joe Tuzze in the end zone, and turned the ball over on downs.

"I think they did that against NC State and scored," Kelly said. "It is a battle of wills and we are pretty stout down there."

Akron cut the lead to eight when Getsy found David Harvey for a 10-yard touchdown with 8:13 remaining in the game. The extra point was missed wide left.

But CMU took 5:52 off the clock on its final drive, finishing it off with a 26-yard field goal from sophomore kicker Rick Albreski to take a 24-13 lead.

Akron got the ball back with 2:21 remaining in the game and scored a touchdown with 11 seconds remaining, but was unsuccessful in recovering the onside kick.

"To be a complete football team you have to be able to run the football when they expect you to run it, and we were able to chop off a lot of clock," Kelly said. "I thought our will was really strong."

Getsy finished the game 25-of-46 for 375 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. The three interceptions came in the first half, the three touchdowns came in the second half.

"They played a soft secondary and sometimes things can open up, but they never did," said UA coach J.D. Brookhart. "(Dan) Bazuin is just a great player, he'll be playing on Sundays soon. (Steven) Friend also is a great player. They caused us problems."

Freshman quarterback Dan LeFevour was 16-of-23 for 162 yards with one touchdown and one interception for Central. He also added 67 yards rushing to lead the team.

"He is going to be a really good football player when it all comes together for him," Kelly said.

Senior linebacker Doug Kress led the defense with 10 tackles, and junior linebacker Red Keith recorded seven tackles, three for loss and an interception.

Be sure to check out Central Michigan Life's Monday edition for complete game coverage, including a video and photo slideshow from the game.