OHIO Football
Blocked party
Ohio rolls in home opener
By Zack Lloyd, Staff Writer
September 3, 2007 | 10:51 a.m.
New starting quarterback, Brad Bower, looked very efficient spreading the ball around to 10 different receivers and finishing 15-25 for 180 yards and 1 touchdown. But Bower’s highly anticipated start was overshadowed by an Ohio running back and his name wasn’t Kalvin McRae.
Entering week one’s game, backup running back Josh Abrams had never scored a touchdown and had three career blocked punts. That all changed Saturday as Abrams reached pay-dirt and blocked three more punts, the last resulting in a safety.
Abrams’ three blocked punts were a unique occurrence even for Ohio coach Frank Solich who has been coaching at the collegiate level for 28 years.
“I’ve never seen it done,” Solich said. “Never had it done against any team I was associated with and I haven’t seen it in the games I’ve watched.”
It was an emotional night for the senior tailback to say the least. He said he got an added boost from his teammates as the Bobcats approached the end zone before his second quarter touchdown.
“Once I came in, Kalvin came out and we were close to the goal line,” Abrams said. “I told everyone that it could be my first one and they gave me a little extra motivation to get it done”
After a game in which he scored his first career touchdown and blocked three punts there was an obvious question on everyone’s mind. Which is better, blocking a punt or scoring a touchdown?
“I might have to say blocking kicks,” Abrams said. “I block the kicks [McRae] gets the touchdowns so I put him in better position to score.”
And score McRae did. The Ohio starting running back rushed for 142 yards and 2 touchdowns on 24 carries.
McRae’s performance was to be expected, the unknown was how Bower would respond to being given the keys to the offense. The Ohio quarterback made good reads all night passing the ball to wide receivers, tight ends, fullbacks and running backs during his solid debut.
After the game Bower and Solich agreed that the Ohio quarterback’s zero interceptions may have been his most important statistic.
“We did pretty good, took care of the ball. Taking care of the ball was something we were working on and we did good in that area,” Bower said. “Receivers ran good routes. I was getting good protection from the O-line all day. They made it easy on me.”
Considering the opponent and it being the first week, Solich said he was pleased with the Bobcats’ victory but believes they can play much better.
“It was one of those games when at beginning you're frustrated a little bit,” Solich said. “You want to separate yourselves from them but we never quite did that. I think they're a bit better than what most people give them credit for, we probably did not play as well as we had hoped to play for the first game.”
On the defensive side of the ball Ohio had the daunting task of trying to contain Gardner-Webb’s shotgun spread offense. Cornerback Marc Parsons intercepted one pass and had another interception overturned by officials after review but said defending the spread offense presented some challenges.
“It was so tough because you have to look over and get your play,” Parsons said. “They’re about to snap the ball and you can’t really predict what they’re going to run. And then you get tired after awhile because they pass the ball so much.”
Despite allowing only 14 points, Parsons maintained that the Bobcats defense still had work to do.
“They scored on us in the second half,” Parsons said. “We got a lot to work on but I think we’re going to get it done this week and get better for the next week.”
The Ohio Football team will play at Louisiana Lafayette 7:00 p.m. next Saturday.