The Murray State football team suffered a setback on Saturday night, falling 20-13 to Austin Peay, at Governors Stadium in Clarksville. The loss moves Murray State to 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the OVC, while Austin Peay improves to 1-6 on the year and 1-2 in league play.
After forcing Austin Peay to punt on its opening drive of the game, the Racers were then forced themselves to punt in their opening possession for only the second time this season. However, on the opening play of the following Govs drive, Perry Cooper forced a fumble to give Murray State the ball back on the APSU 24-yard line. Despite only moving the ball five yards on the ensuing MSU drive, Carson Greifenkamp ensured the Racers would not walk away empty-handed as he knocked down a 32-yard field goal to give his team and early 3-0 lead.
At the end of the first, KD Humphries began a drive that took MSU 84 yards down the field all the way to the Govs two-yard line. On fourth and goal, Damien Whitfield stepped for APSU and stopped a quarterback rush from Roman Clay at the one to prevent MSU from increasing its lead.
Later in the quarter, the Govs came up with another big defensive play when Roderick Owens picked off Humpries and returned the ball 39-yards to the MSU 30 with 2:50 remaining in the half. Mickey Macius did not waste the opportunity, as he found Jared Beard in the end zone on the opening play of the drive to give his team their first lead of the game and their first on an opponent since Week 12 of last season.
Following the interception, the Racers looked as if they would march down the field and score before the end of the half. However, just when it looked like Marcus Holiday would break a run to score, the Govs defense came up huge again when Whitfield recovered a fumble cause by John Shuler to effectively end the first half of play.
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In the opening drive of the second half, Humphries once again went to work taking Murray State down the field. Pokey Harris capped the drive with a 24-yard rush for the touchdown to give the Racers back the lead at 10-7.
Macius then answered with a touchdown drive of his own, taking the Govs 67 yards down the field. Jared Beard finished the drive with a rush from the seven yard-line for his second score of the night. However, Dakota Vincil missed the extra-point attempt following the touchdown to leave the score at 13-10.
The turnover troubles continued for MSU in the next drive, as Humphries was intercepted in the end zone by Owens for the second time in the game. After stopping the Govs following the pick, Janawski Davis muffed the punt return to give APSU the ball at the Murray State 20-yard line. Beard then caught his third touchdown pass of the night from Macius on the second play of the drive to extend APSU’s lead to 20-10.
The Racers had another drive stall early in the fourth quarter when they were stopped on a fourth and inches. The six-play, 22-yard drive came to an end at the MSU 49 after Humphries scrambled to avoid the sack before completing a pass to Davis, who was tackled behind the line of scrimmage.
In the middle of the fourth, Murray State inched closer to the Govs when they recovered a fumble on the Austin Peay 33, caused by Travis Taylor. Greifenkamp then converted on his second field goal attempt of the night, a 28-yarder, to cut the lead to 20-13.
Late in the game, Murray State had the opportunity to tie or win as they took over at their own 44 with 4:59 to play. However, just as MSU was driving towards the goal line, Jeremy Harness fumbled the ball at the APSU 37, for Murray State’s fifth turnover of the game. The Racers had one last chance to stop the Govs on a 3rd-and-nine, but Macius completed a pass to Beard for 11 yards to seal the win for Austin Peay.
Humphries ended the game at 22-for-44 for 235 yards and two interceptions, while his leading receiver was Jesse Blackburn who hauled in six catches for 74 yards. Harris had a career-high 88 rushing yards on 13 carries with a touchdown to lead the Racer rushing attack.
Jonathan Jackson led the MSU defense with 11 tackles on the night, while Felton Collins followed with nine. Travis Taylor has seven on the night, including three for a loss of 16 yards, with a sack and a forced fumble.
Murray State will return to The Track next Saturday to close out its 2014 non-conference slate with Division II Kentucky Wesleyan. Kick-off at Roy Stewart Stadium is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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