Herd holds on to beat Old Dominion

Published 9:19 pm Saturday, September 30, 2023

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — Cam Fancher threw for two touchdowns, Rasheen Ali ran for two scores and Marshall defeated Old Dominion 41-35 on Saturday.

Elijah Alston’s 85-yard interception return capped a 28-point rally that put the Thundering Herd on top 31-21 midway through the third quarter.

That overshadowed an amazing performance by Old Dominion’s Kadarius Calloway, who scored on runs of 70, 69 and 75 yards, finishing with 236 yards on just 11 carries. Calloway is a junior college transfer after originally signing with Alabama as a defensive back. He missed spring ball with an injury and had five carries for 25 yards coming into the Marshall game.

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Rece Verhoff’s field goal made it 41-28 with 8:21 to play but Calloway busted a 75-yard run up the middle to pull the Monarchs within six. However an interception by J.J. Roberts and a turnover on downs with 1:41 to play ended their chances.

Fancher threw touchdown passes to Caleb Combs and Cade Conley in the second quarter that helped the Thundering Herd cut their deficit to 21-17 at halftime.

Fancher was 29-of-35 passing for 278 yards with an interception and added 86 yards on the ground for the Thundering Herd (4-0, 1-0 Sun Belt Conference).

Jack Shields was 11 of 23 for 95 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions for Old Dominion (2-3, 1-1).

The Monarchs had 434 yards of total offense, 339 on the ground. Marshall had 448 yards, 278 in the air.

Old Dominion 7 14 7 7 35
Marshall 3 14 21 3 41

First Quarter

ODU–Shields 66 run (Sanchez kick), 14:03.

MRSH–FG Verhoff 42, 5:26.

Second Quarter

ODU–Bly 19 pass from Shields (Sanchez kick), 13:23.

ODU–Calloway 70 run (Sanchez kick), 11:17.

MRSH–C.Conley 1 pass from Fancher (Verhoff kick), 9:11.

MRSH–Coombs 22 pass from Fancher (Verhoff kick), 3:31.

Third Quarter

MRSH–Ali 1 run (Verhoff kick), 10:10.

MRSH–E.Alston 85 interception return (Verhoff kick), 8:13.

ODU–Calloway 69 run (Sanchez kick), 7:50.

MRSH–Ali 1 run (Verhoff kick), 2:59.

Fourth Quarter

MRSH–FG Verhoff 30, 8:21.

ODU–Calloway 75 run (Sanchez kick), 8:09.

A–22,652.

___

ODU MRSH
First downs 11 30
Total Net Yards 434 464
Rushes-yards 31-339 49-186
Passing 95 278
Punt Returns 3-15 1-2
Kickoff Returns 3-39 4-123
Interceptions Ret. 1-0 3-91
Comp-Att-Int 11-23-3 29-35-1
Sacked-Yards Lost 1-6 0-0
Punts 5-45.8 4-41.25
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-2
Penalties-Yards 9-82 10-91
Time of Possession 18:45 41:21

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Old Dominion, Calloway 11-236, Shields 5-63, Roche 10-23, Wicks 5-17. Marshall, Fancher 15-102, Ali 28-79, E.Payne 3-8, (Team) 3-(minus 3).

PASSING–Old Dominion, Shields 11-23-3-95. Marshall, Fancher 29-35-1-278.

RECEIVING–Old Dominion, Bly 5-34, Wicks 2-9, Murphy 1-42, Calloway 1-5, Butler 1-3, Roche 1-2. Marshall, Coombs 8-76, Pierce 5-74, Simmons 4-30, C.Conley 4-18, Ali 4-17, J.Harrison 2-13, McMillan 1-40, Harris 1-10.

MISSED FIELD GOALS–Old Dominion, Rigby 50.