By Mason Wittner, Staff Writer
Only eight teams in Big South history have rushed for over 415 yards and 6 touchdowns in a single game. Thursday night, in Kennesaw State’s first game in program history, the Owls became the ninth team to do so in a 56-16 win over East Tennessee State.
KSU’s triple-option attack racked up 512 yards of total offense, 416 of which came on the ground. The Owls faced growing pains early on in the game after committing a turnover and a handful of penalties. But they battled back to showcase an offense that appeared to be in midseason form.
Quarterback Trey White, a transfer from The Citadel, led the Owls as he rushed for 96 yards and a score. White completed two passes on the night, each to Justin Sumpter, for a total of 96 yards and a touchdown.
“In our offense, if you can get all our guys working together things can turn out great,” White said. “It was a full team effort. When our offense had a turnover early, our defense held them in the redzone. Our special teams gave us good field position. It takes [a team effort] to put up 50 plus points.”
The Owls’ offense mainly displayed their depth in the running game, using 10 different ball carriers, four of whom rushed for over 50 yards.
“Well that’s good, it’s what we do, we run the ball,” KSU head coach Brian Bohannon said of his running game. “All of those guys had a change to make some plays and do some good stuff, so I was proud of that. Darnell Holland, a true freshman coming in, you saw some really electrifying things out of him.”
Holland had two touches for 83 yards. In the third quarter, he took his first handoff 63 yards for a touchdown, hurdling a defender in the process. Chaston Bennett and Trey Chivers each accounted for a rushing touchdown on the ground as well. Jae Bowen found the end zone twice.
Micah Reed carried the ball 11 times for 78 yards as the Owls’ fourth-leading rusher. Reed never found the end-zone, but the true freshman averaged 7.1 yards a carry, including one rush for 20 yards, his longest of the night. Behind White’s 16 rushes, Reed was handed the ball the most with 11 touches.
KSU showed they aren’t shallow at the quarterback position either. Leading 42-13, the Owls pulled White out of the game early in the 4th quarter. Backup Jake McKenzie came in and rushed for 27 yards on his first drive, setting up a Bowen touchdown. McKenzie finished with 34 yards on four carries and a touchdown.
It appeared the only thing that could stop the Owls offensively was themselves. KSU totaled seven penalties for 80 yards.
“We were our own worst enemy early on,” Bohannon said. “We had penalties, we’d get off schedule and we had a turnover. But they fought and they fought, and we talked about at halftime coming out; we were going to finish things off. And they did a great job of that.”
After scoring 21 points in the opening half, the Owls came out of the locker room and exploded for 35 more points before surrendering an ETSU field goal with five minutes left in the game.
