A record-breaking crowd showed up to witness a new look from the Owls football team.
The Kennesaw State Owls welcomed the Tusculum Pioneers to Fifth Third Bank Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 31 to kick off their final season as an FCS program.
A slow first quarter saw TU take a 7-0 when Pioneers quarterback Preston Roberts connected with wide receiver Ethan Stinnett on a 15-yard touchdown pass. The Owls didn’t help themselves early on special teams. Junior kicker Connor Cummins missed his first two attempts of the year before rebounding late in the second quarter.
“He got another opportunity to go back there and he did find a way to make them,” Head Coach Brian Bohanon said post-game. “This a new time for us, we haven’t been out there under the lights, but I was proud of the fact he found a way to get back out there and make them.”
With the Owls still down 7-0, wide receiver and track star Tykeem Wallace broke the seal in the second quarter when he outran the entire Pioneers’ defense en route to a 54-yard touchdown. This reception was the first of Wallace’s career. The junior had spent the previous two seasons buried in the depth chart as a running back.
After a slow start from both sides in the second half, Jonathan Murphy pulled off a highlight reel-worthy 55-yard touchdown run that included several broken tackles.
“After I broke the first one, It was kind of my mindset where I was like well, If I break this one I might as well break a few more and try to go score,” Murphy commented after being asked what point he knew he had a chance to score.
Once the Owls opened up a two-possession lead, there was no looking back. Blake Bohannon caught his second career touchdown when he went 55 yards with a perfect ball thrown by Murphy.
Tusculum was threatening to get back within two scores with just under eight minutes to go when cornerback Deontre Morris jumped in front of a Preston Roberts pass and took it all the way back to the one-yard line. Morris made the mistake of dropping the ball before crossing the goal line, but it was immediately covered up by Jordan Miles in the endzone to extend the lead to 31-7.
Late in the final quarter, Murphy was relieved at quarterback by freshman Davis Bryson. Bryson led the Owls on one final touchdown drive that he capped off with a 21-yard touchdown run, finalizing the score at 38-7.
A school record-breaking crowd of 10,018 was announced during the fourth quarter. The crowd was made up of more than half students, who accounted for 5,415 of those ticketed.
“To me, (sellout crowds) would be the standard,” remarked Head Coach Bohannon on the crowd. “It’s not just one game, let’s go to the next one, and let’s do it again and see if we can continue to build on that.”
The Owls return when they make the short road trip up to Tennessee for their first road test against the Chattanooga Mocs on Saturday, Sep. 9.
