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Kalamazoo, Mich. - It seems like a broken record but the Western Michigan football team faced adversity, down two scores at one point, and its defense provided the spark to kick start the offense. The Broncos went on to score 31-straight points en route to a 31-24 victory over Central Michigan on Senior Day at Waldo Stadium. The victory gives WMU the inaugural Michigan MAC Football Championship sponsored by the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.
Western Michigan (7-3, 5-2 MAC) fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter. Kent Smith put his Central Michigan (5-5, 4-3 MAC) squad in front on a 26-yard strike to Justin Harper. On the pass Smith became CMU's all-time leader in completions in a season. The drive took 3:39 off the game clock and lasted 10 plays. The Chippewas' next drive was much of the same, taking 5:07 off the clock and lasting 11 plays. This time Ontario Sneed scored from five yards out to put the Broncos' arch rival up by two scores early. Smith finished with 460 yards passing on 46-of-71 passing. Sneed managed 89 yards on the ground, while Harper and Damien Linson each eclipsed the 100-yard mark with 136 and 108 yards, respectively.
The crowd of 23,484 was worried, to say the least. But the Brown & Gold were just getting warmed up. After CMU failed on a 41-yard field-goal attempt, Tim Hiller and Greg Jennings spent little time on the field before the lead was cut in half. On the 24-yard line, Hiller stepped back and hit Jennings on a post and the senior all-everything wide out did the rest. Seventy-six yards later, Western Michigan was in the end zone and trailed by only seven, 14-7.
The WMU defense made itself known, as it does in every game at the biggest of moments. With the Chippewas on their own 20-yard line, Sneed coughed up the ball and freshman cornerback Kennard Banks recovered it before it trickled out of bounds. On the next play, Hiller it Jamarko Simmons in the back of the end zone for a seven-yard score, tying the game.
Central Michigan was forced to punt on its next drive. Hiller and Jennings connected again for the score, this time from 40 yards out. It was the third one-play scoring drive of the game and the fourth of the season. Three of the four one-play drives have resulted in a Hiller-to-Jennings touchdown.
The Broncos added a fourth score near the end of the half when Hiller hit Tony Scheffler from four yards out for the team's third touchdown of the quarter. The drive, lasting 13 plays and covering 79 yards, began due to another Bronco defensive moment. This time, Nick Varcadipane picked off a Smith pass. In all, Smith had three miscues, throwing interceptions to Varcadipane, Zach Davidson and Austin Pritchard.
Hiller's four touchdowns give him 20 on the season, moving him into third all-time for scoring tosses in a season. He finished with 239 yards on 16-of-29 passing and no interceptions. Jennings was Jennings ? great. The Kalamazoo, Mich. native had 171 yards and two scores on nine catches. He did most of his damage in the first half, hauling in eight passes for 164 yards. His performance puts him a top yet another list in the Bronco record book. He now has 1,208 yards this season, breaking the single-season mark previously held by Steve Neal with 1,121 (2003). Jennings needs just five catches and 112 yards to eclipse the all-time career receptions and receiving yards records at Western Michigan. He also needs just one more score to become only the second player in MAC history to have 40 or more touchdown receptions.
The second half belonged to Trovon Riley, who rushed for 100 or more yards for the fifth time this season. Riley had 53 yards on nine carries in the first half and added 73 yards in the second as the senior rushed for 126 yards and is 43 yards from the first 1,000-yard season of his career.
After a Nate Meyer field goal from 25 yards out, Western Michigan led 31-14 with 5 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The goal was to control the clock and the ball for much of the fourth quarter but this is a rivalry game and nothing comes easy. Central Michigan cut the Bronco lead to 10 on a Sneed's second score of the game. The Chippewas' cut the lead to a touchdown after Isaac Brown stripped Scheffler of the ball late in the fourth and drove to the Broncos four-yard line. CMU was forced to settle for a field goal.
Western Michigan could not run out the clock but Central Michigan, with no time outs and 60 seconds remaining on the clock, could not drive the 80 yards needed to tie the score and a desperation pass into the end zone fell to the ground as time expired.
WMU now has five MAC wins, marking the biggest turn around in terms of wins in conference history. Prior to this season no team that had lost eight league games one year had won more than four the next season. The Broncos will try to close out the campaign in style with a nationally televised (ESPN2) game at Northern Illinois at Huskie Stadium on Nov. 23.
Written by Mat Kanan, associate director of athletic media relations
