KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan football team improved to 4-0 in Mid-American Conference play after a convincing 52-21 win over Kent State in front of a Homecoming crowd of 23,537 at Waldo Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Broncos (5-3, 4-0 MAC) put up 579 yards of total offense, with 358 of it coming on the ground. Junior
Jaden Nixon had a game-high 135 yards rushing on just eight carries and one touchdown.
Zahir Abdus-Salaam rushed for 83 yards on six carries, while
Jalen Buckley had 80 yards on 11 carries and two touchdowns. Quarterback
Hayden Wolff had another efficient day, going 15-for-21 for 208 yards and three touchdown passes. Junior tight end
Blake Bosma led all receiver with six catches and also had 59 yards and one touchdown.
Kenneth Womack had a team-high 68 yards on two receptions.
WMU's defense forced four turnovers, recorded five sacks and 10 tackles for loss. Graduate safety
Tate Hallock had five tackles, one tackle for loss, one forced fumble and a career-high two interceptions in the win.
Boone Bonnema,
Popeye Williams,
Rodney McGrawn and
Mason Nelson each had one sack, while Nelson had a sack-fumble.
Western Michigan jumped on the Golden Flashes early, scoring on its first two drives. The Broncos took the opening kickoff and marched down the field on an 11-play, 83-yard scoring drive. WMU got down to KSU's 3-yard line and Wolff connected with
Malique Dieudonne on a play-action pass for the touchdown. A timely sack by Williams disrupted a drive by Kent State that had made its way into WMU territory, forcing a punt. WMU took over on its own 8-yard line and on the opening play of the drive Nixon took it 92 yards to the house to put WMU up 14-0 after the
Luka Zurak extra point. Nixon's touchdown was the second-longest rushing touchdown in program history and his 10th score of the season.
Zurak added a 21-yard field goal after a 7-play, 53-yard yard drive to open the second quarter, pushing WMU ahead 17-0. After a muffed kickoff, Kent State was stuck deep against its own endzone and WMU forced a 3-and-out. The Broncos took over on their own 48 and scored four plays later. The drive opened with a 36-yard pass from Wolff to Womack. A pass to Bosma got WMU down to the KSU 2 before Buckley ran it in for his first touchdown of the game.
Buckley added his second touchdown minutes later after another Kent State 3-and-out. This time Wolff connected with
Jordin Parker for a 38-yard pass down to the Golden Flashes' 20-yard line. Buckley then ran it for three yards down to the 17 and then took it into the endzone on the next play to give the Broncos a 31-0 lead.
On the second play of the ensuing drive, Mason had the sack-fumble on Tommy Ulatowski and
Jayden Childers jumped on it at the KSU 19. After a two-yard run by Abdus-Salaam, Wolff found
Kaevion Mack on the fade rout for the 17-yard touchdown.
Kent State added a touchdown with 10 seconds left in the half, with the Broncos holding a commanding 38-7 lead heading into the third quarter.
The Golden Flashes opened the third quarter with a drive into WMU territory but Ulatowski's pass into the endzone was picked off by Hallock for his second of the game. The teams traded punts for the next four drives before a 70-yard run by Abdus-Salaam set up a 10-yard touchdown pass from Wolff to Bosma to put the Broncos ahead 45-7.
Kent State scored on its next drive to cut the score to 45-14 before WMU answered back on a touchdown drive led by backup quarterback
Broc Lowry. Lowry opened the drive with his first completion as a Bronco, finding Mack out in the flat for 4 yards. Lowry then used his legs, extending the drive on a 3
rd and 11 with a 40-yard run down to the Kent State 14. After two plays of no gain, Lowry ran it in from 14 yards for his second touchdown of the season.
The Golden Flashes added another late touchdown to set the final at 52-21.
It's Midweek #MACtion time for Western Michigan. The Broncos are back at it at home, hosting Northern Illinois on Wednesday, No. 6 at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at
www.wmubroncos.com/tickets.
