History Made in Blowout of Kentucky Wesleyan
Findlay, Ohio – In front of a large Homecoming crowd, the University of Findlay football team turned in yet another dominating performance in a Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) contest, earning a 68-14 victory over the Kentucky Wesleyan College Panthers. It is the third 60+ point game for the Oilers this season, the first time in school that Findlay has had three 60+ point games in one season. The victory, which took place on Friday, October 20, gives the Oilers their sixth straight victory to improve of 7-1 overall and 4-0 in the Great Midwest while the Panthers fall to 2-5 overall with a 1-3 mark in league play. The six-game winning streak is the first since 1997 when Findlay went on to finish 14-0 and win an NAIA National Championship.
Findlay jumped out to a 27-7 lead after the first quarter and extended that lead to 47-7 at the half, eventually cruising to a 54-point victory.
The Oilers out-performed the Panthers in nearly every category including first downs (28-14), rushing yards (390-81), total yards (588-305), and time of possession (33:42-26:18). Findlay also took advantage of turnovers and finished the game plus-three in that statistic including a 64-yard interception return for a touchdown by senior Aaron Ivory, his third pick-six of the season.
Junior Rhys Gervais was locked in again from the pocket and in one half, connected on 11-of-15 passes for 149 yards and three touchdowns without throwing an interception. In the second quarter, Gervais connected on a 13-yard pass with Jacob Boucher that pushed Gervais passed Bo Hurley (1994-97) for the most yards of total offense in a career at Findlay with 7,539 yards.
Junior Michael Campbell led the team in rushing with 147 yards on the ground. He carried the ball 13 times and found the end zone once. Close behind was senior Daouda Sylla who scored twice on 14 carries while picking up 137 yards. In the game, Sylla reached the 1,000-yard mark for the season. He became the 21st back in Findlay history to have a 1,000-yard season.
On the receiving end, junior Jacob Boucher led the team with 77 yards on three catches while junior Jason Moore hauled in a team-high five receptions for 45 yards. Three of his catches were for touchdowns which ties his own record for the most touchdown catches in a game.
Highlighting the special teams was the play of junior Jacob Hill who returned a kickoff return 81 yards for a touchdown, the first kickoff return for a touchdown at Findlay since 2014 when Nate Morris took a kickoff 100-yards for a score against Grand Valley State.
Leading the defense was junior Justice Jenkins who led the squad with seven tackles including two tackles-for-loss and one sack. Sophomore Isaac Miles also had a pair of tackles-for-loss including a sack. He also had a forced fumble while collecting five tackles. Junior Francis Cutchember and freshman Terrence Smith chipped in five tackles. With 11 tackles-for-loss, the Oilers' defense set a new season-high in that category.
Findlay has another short week as their next game will take place on Thursday, October 26 in Canton, Ohio against the Malone Pioneers.