Kent State football rallies in fourth quarter, beats Buffalo in overtime of MAC finale

Staff report
·2 min read

In Buffalo, Kent State scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns and then had the go-ahead score in overtime to beat the Bulls 30-27 in the Golden Flashes regular-season finale.

Kent State scored a pair of rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter to tie the game 24-24. Ja'Shaun Poke scored on a 10-yard run on a fourth-and-4 to cut the Golden Flashes' deficit to 24-16. The point after failed. After Kent State forced Buffalo to punt, Marquez Cooper scored from the 2-yard line with 1:00 left in regulation to cut the deficit to 24-22. Freshman quarterback Tommy Ulatwoski then hit Poke on a two-point conversion to knot the game 24-24.

Kent State's Marquez Cooper rushed for 145 yards and two touchdowns in the Golden Flashes' overtime win over Buffalo.
Kent State's Marquez Cooper rushed for 145 yards and two touchdowns in the Golden Flashes' overtime win over Buffalo.

Buffalo went up three points in overtime, scoring first, setting up Ultawoski's game-winning possession with a 7-yard TD pass to Devontez Walker for the Kent victory.

"It's always an adventure," said Kent State head coach Sean Lewis. "It's always an adventure when we play Buffalo."

Cooper finished with 140 yards rushing on 30 carries with two touchdowns. He concluded the season second in the MAC in rushing with 1,331 yards and he scored 13 touchdowns on the ground.

"Incredible character shown by our guys," said Lewis. "We've been talking about it for the past 10 days. We were going to play for pride, we were going to play for passion, we're going to play for the program [and] we were going to play for each other.

"It wasn't pretty in a lot of different ways for a lot of the evening but the guys found a way to get it done and that's what it's about."

Kent State quarterbacks completed 14-of-34 passes for 150 yards and a touchdown. The Golden Flashes outgained Buffalo 364-346.

Buffalo's Matt Meyers scored three touchdowns and ran for 109 yards on 21 carries.

Kent State closed the season with a pair of road wins to finish 5-7 overall and 4-4 in the Mid-American Conference. Buffalo is 5-6 overall, 4-3 in the MAC, and finishes its regular season Friday by hosting Akron.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Kent State football beats Buffalo Bulls in Mid-American Conference