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Football: Yazdani's game-winning field goal clinches bowl eligibility

By Alex Busch | Nov. 25, 2014

OXFORD, Ohio — Ohio’s bowl hopes were on the line with 1:47 remaining in the Battle of the Bricks.Josiah Yazdani lined up to break a tie game with a 42-yard yard field goal, but he pulled the kick wide left and thought he had let the Tuesday night game slip away.As Miami regained possession, Brendan Cope told his kicker on the sideline he’d get another chance to redeem himself.“After that first miss I didn’t lose confidence, but you feel like you let the whole team down,” Yazdani said. “I can’t say enough to Derrius and our offense, they got me down there again.”Ironically enough, Cope was a focal point in Ohio’s game-winning drive.Miami’s offense couldn’t put together a drive to win the game and Ohio got the ball back with one minute remaining. On the ensuing drive, Cope, a freshman wide receiver, dove forward along the sideline to reel in a 38-yard reception.That catch put the Bobcats at the RedHawks’ 11-yard line and gave Yazdani a chance to “go from zero to hero,” as he drilled a 28-yard game-winning kick and gave Ohio the 24-21 victory.A victory wasn’t always in sight, though, as Ohio (6-6, 4-4 Mid-American) allowed Miami (2-10, 2-6 MAC) to score 21 points in the first half. Miami quarterback Andrew Hendrix finished the first half with 167 passing yards and two total scores, while Ohio failed to put together drives to score any points.Redshirt junior quarterback Derrius Vick struggled to start the game, similarly to the first three games of the season. Before being pulled in the second quarter in favor of JD Sprague, Vick had completed just three of his nine passes for 25 yards and had one interception.Ohio didn’t quit, and the first score came at an important time.Seconds after Miami scored its third touchdown, Kylan Nelson brought the ensuing kickoff back 85 yards, tiptoeing along the sideline, for a touchdown.Sprague, a redshirt sophomore quarterback, saw two possessions before being taken back out after throwing two interceptions.That’s when Vick — like Yazdani — was able to make amends for his mistakes.“Obviously I was a little disappointed in myself getting taken out of the game, because I didn’t perform well enough,” Vick said. “It just so happened that I went back into the game and I tried to make the most of what I could.”Vick finished with 121 yards, two touchdowns and an interception through the air, while adding 61 yards rushing as well.With the victory, the Bobcats are bowl eligible for a sixth consecutive season. Although it’s not guaranteed a bowl, Ohio could find itself in one with a .500 record.“We didn’t get off to a good start, and then we turned the ball over and allowed them to get some scores,” coach Frank Solich said. “Winning a hard-fought contest like that, having to come from behind and doing it on the road — that all adds up to really propelling us into the off-season, if that is the case for us.“If we’re fortunate enough to be in a bowl game I know this team will prepare hard and prepare well.”@Alex_Busch91ab109410@ohio.edu

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Swimming-Bobcats stumble, finish sixth at H2Okie Invitational

By Paul Holden | Nov. 23, 2014

Ohio’s struggles in the pool continued this past weekend, as the Bobcats finished in sixth place out of a field of seven at the H2Okie Invitational in Christiansburg, Virginia.The Bobcats finished the three-day meet over 1,000 points behind host and victor Virginia Tech in their final competition of 2014. Ohio’s finish is two spots worse than when it placed fourth at the event last year.The Hokies dominated the weekend, finishing atop the pack at the end of all three days of competition and went into the Saturday, the final day of competition, with a 422-point lead on No. 24 Alabama in second place. Despite two top-10 finishes on Saturday, the Bobcats couldn’t improve on their sixth-place position and finished the meet in that spot with 270 points overall. Sophomore Laura Dawson finished in fifth place in the 200-yard backstroke and redshirt junior Bianca Hauzer took eighth place in the 1,650-yard freestyle.On Friday, senior Tori Bagan set a new school record in a 100-yard breaststroke prelim by finishing with a time of 1:02.75.The Bobcats only finished in the top-ten in six events all weekend and the strongest element for Ohio, the medley relay team consisting of junior Addison Ferguson, senior Tori Bagan, Dawson and junior Haley Clark took home two of the top-ten finishes. Ohio’s biggest problem, depth, continued to and it them potential points. The Bobcats missed out on points throughout the weekend, especially in diving where the team only has one healthy diver. The small roster of Ohio and some of the other teams that competed in the events lead to some events, such as the platform diving event, having only athletes from Virginia Tech and Alabama competing.The Bobcats will be getting extended rest and time away from the road as the H2Okie Invitational was the last event for the team until Jan. 9. Ohio hopes to continue to get healthy and improve on performing for an entire meet as they have just four meets left before the Mid-American Conference Championships. The Bobcats had their worst performance at the MAC Championships in 10 years last season.Rest and time off could help the Bobcats refocus and rebuild their roster to full strength so it has enough healthy student-athletes to field all events.@PAULHOLDEN33ph553412@ohio.edu

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