Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University football team opened the home portion of its 2019 schedule with a 13-7 loss to Kentucky State at Joe Walton Stadium. The Colonials slipped to 0-2 with the setback.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
RMU opened the scoring with six minutes left in the first quarter, as senior running back
Terence Stephens, Jr., punched it in from two yards out to cap a 13-play, 78-yard drive and give the Colonials an early 7-0 advantage.
DRIVING FOR MORE
Robert Morris was looking to add to its lead early in the second quarter, but on 1st-and-goal from the KSU two-yard line, quarterback
Caleb Lewis fumbled. Xavier Johnson recovered for the Thorobreds, who responded with the longest drive of the afternoon. Kentucky State used up 11:38 off the clock, manufacturing a 20-play, 94-yard drive that was capped with Jaylen Myers completing a four-yard scoring strike to Brett Sylve to pull the Thorobreds to within 7-6.
QUOTABLE
"There's definitely a lot of room for improvement," sophomore quarterback
George Martin said. "We're just not good enough. We need a serious, hard week of practice. What we put out today just wasn't good enough. We need to focus mentally and get it together."
JUMPING IN FRONT
Kentucky State (1-0) took its first lead of the contest with 4:47 to go in the third quarter, as Israel Fields scored from one yard out to cap a 12-play, 80-yard drive. The big play came on 3rd-and-20 from the KSU 46-yard line, when Myers connected with Jonathan Powell for a 44-yard completion down to the Robert Morris 10-yard line.
QUOTABLE
"We didn't capitalize when we needed to in order to pull the game out," senior running back
Terence Stephens, Jr. said. "We're going to bounce back. We're going to fight. We made a few mistakes on the goal line, but we're going to get that fixed this week in practice."
FALLING SHORT
Robert Morris looked to get on the board again early in the fourth quarter, but a turnover proved costly again. On 2nd-and-goal at the KSU one-yard line, sophomore running back
Jordan Johnson fumbled. Earnest Austin came up with the recovery for Kentucky State.
THE STAT SHEET
Martin finished 7-for-16 passing for Robert Morris in his first home starting assignment, finishing with 70 yards through the air. He also rushed three times for 31 yards. Lewis finished 3-for-4 passing for 24 yards, while Stephens finished the afternoon with 69 yards on 13 carries, an average of 5.3 yards per rush.
UP NEXT
RMU returns to Joe Walton Stadium Saturday, Sept. 14, for a 3:00 p.m. kickoff against Dayton in a game that is part of the University's Homecoming festivities.
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