It was the Ohio Bobcats that came out victorious in their MAC matchup with the Central Michigan Chippewas 40-33 in a very tight match.

Last weekend, the Bobcats lit up the scoreboard against Ball State and while they didn’t meet that score total, the result was the same for the second weekend in a row.

The game started with Ohio firing on all cylinders, scoring three times within the first 20 minutes. Wing Troy Keener scored twice and wing Zach Lacure scored the other, and fullback Pat Vastn Horn kicked all the conversions to give the Bobcats a commanding 21-0 lead. CMU was once again facing adversity.

The Chippewas clawed their way back in with three scores of their own. Inside center George Andray dialed in the first in the 22^nd minute, flanker Nathanial Rodino got the second in the 34th, and No. 8 Patrick Keady punched in the third just before halftime to tie the game 21-21.

The second half was just as tight as the first and the Bobcats picked up right where they left off with the scoring. Van Horn got it going for Ohio with a quick score within the first five minutes and Van Horn getting his own conversion for a 28-21 lead.

Soon after, center David Powers got his first score of the day with Van Horne getting the conversion to give Ohio their biggest lead of the game and a ton of momentum. CMU countered with outside center David Sands getting to the edge of Ohio’s defense for his first of two for a 35-26 score.

Ohio put away any hope for a CMU comeback after that with another try for the win. Troy Keener got his second of the day to make the score 40-26 and CMU got the last one of the day from flanker Nicholas Stathakis who muscled his way in.

CMU had a chance at the end, but came up short in a valiant effort and Ohio won 40-33. After the game, Ohio coach William Griffes had a lot of positives to say, but knows there is still a lot of work to do.

“CMU kept pushing us until the end, they are a great opponent,” he said. “We came out firing and took an early lead which was great to see our offense starting to click. Our defensive intensity does need a lot of improvement and we need to learn how to play better with a lead.”

“We played with a lot of intensity and heart and battled to the very end,” said Griffes. “We have got to keep our focus in negative circumstances and have to work on our tackling. It was a great game and we are looking forward to next weekend.”

Central Michigan will get the luxury of being at home against Bowling Green while Ohio takes their two-game winning streak on the road against Dayton.