Eastern Kentucky took the field for their home opener against Charleston Southern, led by their Head Coach Walt Wells, just three weeks after he suffered a serious heart attack. The question that had to be asked was, how would the Colonels perform with the emotion of having their Coach back, and coming off a huge seven Overtime victory a week ago? By the end of the game, there was no question the EKU home opener was a massive success.
First Quarter
The Colonels offense looked sharp out the gate, scoring on their first 3 drives of the game! QB Parker McKinney went 8/9 for 131 yds and 2 touchdowns. Jaden Smith caught the first one and Dakota Allen continued his great start of 2022 with a touchdown as well.
Defensively, the Colonels held CSU to 0 points and forced a missed field goal. Defensive Lineman TK McLendon had a sack on the first defensive play of the game.
Second Quarter
The game slowed down drastically in the 2nd. Neither offense could get much going, but the officials made their presence known with several flags throughout the quarter. Charleston Southern got on the board with a Field Goal. With just over a minute to go in the half, McKinney made his first mistake of the game when he threw his third interception of the year. CSU was able to capitalize on the good field position and score on a 28-yard pass moments later. The score at the half was EKU 16, and CSU 10.
Third Quarter
The new half brought out the defense for the Colonels and they answered on the first drive when Josh Hayes picked off a tipped ball for his second interception of the season. The offense tried to take advantage of the turnover, converted on 4th and 3, but then had to settle for a 32-yard field goal from Patrick Nations.
The D stepped up again later in the quarter when Eli Hairston picked off a pass over the middle, setting up a Keyandre McGloire touchdown run five plays later. After another defensive stand, Parker McKinney hit Jayden Higgins on back-to-back bombs of 51 and 41 yards, the latter scoring a touchdown! EKU closed the 3rd quarter with a 33-10 lead.
Fourth Quarter
The game plan for the last quarter was to finish strong. EKU Defense held CSU to a turnover on downs when TK McLendon got his second sack of the game.
Parker McKinney used the last quarter to tie the EKU all-time TD Completion record when he found Jyran Mitchell in the endzone.
CSU put up a late touchdown, but it had no effect on the final outcome.
Final Game Notes
Head Coach Walt Wells returned to coach just three weeks following a major heart attack.
Jayden Higgins had the best game of his young career with 7 catches for 185 yards and 1 touchdown.
EKU had its highest attendance since 2008 with 16,906 at Roy Kidd Stadium.
Jaden Smith’s 56-yard punt return in the first quarter was the longest EKU punt return since 2011.
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