Ypsilanti, MI (Sports Network) - Bernard Reedy's record-breaking performance
highlights a big win for the Toledo Rockets, who scored 28 third quarter
points en route to a 52-47 victory over the Eastern Michigan Eagles at
Rynearson Stadium.
Reedy, the Rockets' (6-1, 4-0 MAC) second leading receiver entering today's
game, caught 11 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns. He also picked up 170
yards on kick returns. His 407 all-purpose yards breaks the all-time Toledo
record of 370 yards, which was set by Casey McBeth in 1994.
Quarterback Terrance Owens also had a career game, throwing for 401 yards,
three touchdowns and two interceptions on 21-of-32. He also ran the ball six
times for 28 yards and a touchdown. David Fluellen led the Rockets on the
ground with 188 yards and two scores on 24 carries.
Eastern Michigan (0-6, 0-3) quarterback Tyler Benz completed 18-of-27 for
301 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Bronson Hill, who had just
seven rushes on the season entering the game, ran for a career-best 283 yards
and four touchdowns on 28 carries. Garrett Hoskins led the Eagles with seven
receptions for 103 yards.
Toledo, which accumulated 655 yards of total offense, got on the board less
than two minutes into the game after Dan Molls picked off Benz, giving his
offense a short field. Six plays later, Owens took it in from four yards out
for a touchdown. The Eagles bounced right back with a Dylan Mulder 31-yard
field goal, his first of two successful kicks on the day.
Owens was intercepted on the ensuing drive, which set up the Eagles' first
touchdown, a 10-yard hookup from Benz to Tyreese Russell, putting them ahead
after one quarter of play. Two second quarter Fluellen touchdown runs gave the
Rockets a 21-10 halftime lead.
The second half began with an unusual sequence in which six touchdowns were
scored in just 14 total plays spanning less than four minutes. Hill started
the scoring at the 10:18 mark of the period with a 47-yard touchdown run to
bring the Eagles to within 21-17. The Rockets answered right back when Reedy
returned the kickoff 89 yards for his first touchdown of the day and the first
kick-return touchdown of his career.
Three plays after Reedy's return, Hill took a handoff 58 yards for another
Eagles' score. Owens' first pass of the Rockets' next possession was a 65-yard
touchdown pass to Reedy. Hill responded with his third touchdown in less than
three minutes, this one from 70 yards away. Hill was over 200 yards on the
ground with 8:27 remaining in the third quarter.
Two more touchdown bombs to Alonzo Russell and Reedy from Owens for 60 and 59
yards respectively and a Benz touchdown to Russell from 41 yards away
concluded the third quarter in which eight total touchdowns were scored. Toledo
held a 49-37 advantage after 45 minutes.
Mulder's second field goal gave life to the Eagles, who were down just nine
points early in the fourth quarter. But Toledo executed their best drive of the
game, methodically going 78 yards in 16 plays to burn more than seven minutes
off the clock before Jeremiah Detmer's only field goal of the game put them up
by 12. Hill added his final touchdown with under two minutes left for the final
score of the game.
Points were scored in 11 of 13 second half possessions, including all six for
Eastern Michigan. Toledo continues to dominate the Eagles, improving to 29-11
in the all-time series.
GAME NOTES:
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