Ball State’s Lewis the difference-maker

The CMU football team found itself in a familiar situation in the fourth quarter Wednesday.

It maintained a 24-24 tie with just several minutes remaining against No. 14 ranked Ball State, looking like it would take just enough offense in the final minutes to secure a third consecutive Mid-American Conference West Division championship.

But it was Ball State’s MiQuale Lewis who instead took over.

The junior running back dashed through the CMU defense, rushing for 63 yards on six carries to lead the Cardinals’ final scoring drive, which ended with quarterback Nate Davis’ 11-yard touchdown pass to receiver Briggs Orsbon with 7:29 to play.

The drive capped Ball State’s 31-24 victory over the Chippewas (8-3, 6-1 Mid-American Conference) at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

“We wanted Lewis to have a big day and he delivered,” said BSU coach Brady Hoke. “After awhile, our offensive line was able to consistently push Central’s defensive line back and create room to run.”

Lewis, the MAC’s leading rusher, finished with a game-high 177 yards on 28 carries.

CMU sophomore linebacker Nick Bellore, who had a team-high 12 tackles, said it was his team’s inability to stop Lewis in the fourth quarter that cost his team.

“We just didn’t finish the game out and those things are going to happen,” Bellore said. “We just didn’t execute in the crunch time.

“There’s a million different things you can look at that if that changed this would have happened, but who knows. That would have changed everything anyway.”

Coach Butch Jones said it was the mistakes his players made, not controversial penalties assessed by officials, that helped lead to Ball State’s victory.

“(The officials are) human. Did one call or one thing cost us the football game? No,” Jones said. “That’s the game of football. Whatever obstacles you had before you’ve got to overcome those. Some were some key calls but Ball State had some go against them as well.”

On CMU’s first drive of the game, junior quarterback Dan LeFevour was sacked by Ball State (11-0, 7-0 MAC) senior linebacker Kenny Meeks. Meeks appeared to grab LeFevour’s facemask, but no flag was thrown, much to the dismay of Jones and the CMU football team.

“They said they didn’t see (the facemask),” Jones said of the officiating crew. “I don’t know what else you can say. I think everyone else in the stadium saw it, but evidently they didn’t see it. So there’s nothing you can do about it.”

sports@cm-life.com