D’Shawntae Jones scored on a 2-yard run with 1:41 to play Saturday, lifting Miami (Ohio) to a 28-27 win over Central Michigan at Kelly/Shorts Stadium in Mount Pleasant and keeping the RedHawks near the top of the Mid-American Conference race.
Miami improved to 5-3 overall and 3-1 in the MAC with its third straight win, while Central Michigan fell to 3-5 and 1-3. The game featured seven lead changes, the last coming on Miami’s eight-play, 75-yard winning drive after Central Michigan had taken a 27-21 lead on a 22-yard field goal with 4:17 remaining.
Quarterback Caleb Heavner drove the winning march, hitting Maleek Huggins for a 27-yard catch down to the Central Michigan 10. Huggins finished with seven catches for 122 yards. Heavner threw for 221 yards and a touchdown and added 58 rushing yards with a score, including a 27-yard touchdown run in the second half.
The game swung repeatedly before that. Miami led 14-10 at halftime after Heavner’s 7-yard touchdown toss to Damarion Witten with 20 seconds left in the first half. Central Michigan retook the lead early in the second half on a 46-yard interception return for a touchdown, and later led 24-21 on a 9-yard touchdown pass in the final minute of the third quarter.
Central Michigan quarterback Jadyn Glasser, starting in place of the injured Angel Flores, threw for 221 yards and a touchdown, and receiver Langston Lewis had 163 yards on 10 catches. But the Chippewas were flagged 10 times for 83 yards, including three penalties on Miami’s game-winning drive — two for holding and one for pass interference in the end zone that placed the ball at the 2.
Central Michigan coach Matt Drinkall said afterward that two things could be true at once: he could be incredibly proud of his players’ effort and the result could still sting. The Chippewas have now lost three straight, each in close fashion, as they try to stay in the MAC race.
Miami returns home to Oxford to face Buffalo on Tuesday, Nov. 3, in the start of midweek MACtion, while Central Michigan plays Eastern Michigan in the Motor City MACtion game at Ford Field in Detroit on Nov. 4.