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Flashes fumble and slide during home finale in near-blizzard conditions
By Stephanie Storm
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008
KENT: It was the kind of weather that kids love to play and roll around in. The kind where parents wrap up children in winter coats, gloves, hats and snow boots before sending them out the door to waddle like a penguin.
The kind with snow swirling in all directions, big fluffy flakes flying from a dark sky as picturesque as a Christmas card.
The problem was all the beautiful white stuff that resembled someone shaking a snow globe didn't come in the afternoon just in time for children getting out of school to frolic in.
Instead, Northeast Ohio's first snowstorm of the season arrived in time for Kent State's evening football game with Northern Illinois in the winter wonderland formerly known as Dix Stadium.
But on a night when the extreme weather conditions were as tough to handle as the Huskies themselves, Kent State slipped, slid and fumbled its way to a 42-14 loss.
''They handled the weather conditions much better than we did and they deserved to win,'' Kent State coach Doug Martin said.
About the only one for whom the weather mattered little was Northern's canine mascot, Diesel, who sat on the sideline throughout the snowstorm without complaint, happy to run about when allowed between TV timeouts.
Like their frisky mascot, the NIU
players didn't seem to be slowed by the near-blizzard conditions at times. The Golden Flashes spotted the visitors a 14-0 lead until a fake field goal resulted in a 5-yard touchdown run by holder Leneric Muldrow with 5:50 remaining in the first half.
A Zamboni-like tractor with a large brush attachment was the star of the show at halftime as it did what it could to clear off the field. By the time it had wiped clean one end and began to make its way to the other side, a fresh coating of snow began to undo all the hard work.
NIU shrugged off the onslaught of snow, responding with three third-quarter scores that put the game out of reach.
The second was on a 60-yard fumble recovery by defensive tackle Craig Rusch that gave the Huskies a 28-7 lead.
Kent State quarterback Julian Edelman lost his grip on the slippery ball when he was hit by defensive end Larry English. The hard hit caused the ball to pop loose and was quickly picked up by the 265-pound Rusch who rumbled his way into the end zone for the score.
''It was pretty crazy,'' Edelman said of the weather. ''The report was for snow showers, but that wasn't it.''
As the weather conditions worsened, grounds crew members used push brooms in an attempt to clear off the yard markers in between timeouts. Midway through the third quarter, it was nearly impossible to distinguish the larger 10-yard markers.
For entertainment between KSU scores, one creative fan built a mid-size snowman in the stands, complete with a scarf and hat.
Kent State finally made one last venture into the end zone, with running back Eugene Jarvis scampering 2 yards for the score on a 10-play, 49-yard drive.
Although Edelman reached his usual 100 yards in rushing (108) and passing (126), it's a rare game that he doesn't manage to reach the end zone to cap a scoring drive.
Instead, Edelman was sacked four times, and Northern's red-shirt freshman Chandler Harnish proved to be the more steady in throwing for 173 yards and two scores while rushing for another 177 yards and running in another two touchdowns.
''Playing in DeKalb, we have horrible weather all the time, but not heavy snow like this,'' Harnish said. ''But it was a fun experience.''
Fun for some.
While the cheerleaders made snow angels on the field after the game, the Flashes learned that freshman tight end Justin Thompson (knee) and senior linebacker Cedrick Maxwell (fibula) had each sustained season-ending injuries.
Stephanie Storm can be reached at sstorm@thebeaconjournal.com.
KENT: It was the kind of weather that kids love to play and roll around in. The kind where parents wrap up children in winter coats, gloves, hats and snow boots before sending them out the door to waddle like a penguin.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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akron, oh
Posted 11:26 AM, 11/19/2008
shocker, kent couldn't play in the snow? hell, they can't play in perfect weather, let alone rain, snow, sleet, heat, cold or sun. the presence of the football has a deleterious effect on the team
