By GRANT TRAYLOR

Associate Athletic Director of Strategic Communications

NORFOLK, Va. – Marshall quarterback Braylon Braxton accounted for 350 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns and the Thundering Herd got timely efforts from its defense and special teams in a 42-35 win over Old Dominion at S.B. Ballard Stadium on Saturday night.

With the win, Marshall is now 8-3 overall and 6-1 in the Sun Belt East Division, maintaining first place heading into the final week of the season.

“That’s a phenomenal job by the players, man,” Marshall coach Charles Huff said. “What a way to grit and grind! There’s a group of guys in there (the locker room) that have stuck together through the ups and the downs. That’s special!”

 With the game coming down to the final minutes, it was Marshall’s offense and defense that played complimentary football to give the Herd the win that spoiled ODU’s Senior Day.

Braxton had completions of 18 yards to Carl Chester and Christian Fitzpatrick to keep the drive alive and added runs of 11 and 13 to set up a 1-yard touchdown by Ethan Payne that put the Herd in front with 4:03 left.

“Everybody has a job to do on every play,” Braxton said. “It takes all 11 guys to make plays work. We were sticking together. This is the closest knit group of people I’ve ever been around – offense, defense and special teams. We told our defense, ‘Get us one stop and we’ve got you all.’ They got us that stop.”

From that point, the defense got critical stops with a pair of plays from Deeve Harris and another from Ian Foster which helped the Herd seal the win.

Harris got a key stop on a second down run and Foster batted down a third-down pass attempt that forced the Monarchs to punt with under 3:00 left.

ODU got the ball back, but Harris ended the last ditch effort with a sack of ODU quarterback Colton Joseph that essentially ended the game and started the celebration for the Herd.

“Individually, it felt good because those guys know me and I know those guys,” Harris said. “Wholistically, as a team, I knew someone was going to get it. I knew it that last drive. It just happened to be me. We have elite guys, so we knew we’d get it. It happened to be me this time and I’m thankful for that.”

It was one of many big plays for the Herd on Saturday.

Perhaps no play was bigger than that of offensive linemen Eric Meeks and Shunmarkus Adams, who stepped up when their number was called and kept the Herd offense moving forward.

Quarterback Braylon Braxton threw for 210 yards and three touchdowns and Marshall rushed for 259 yards on the evening – 140 of those coming from Braxton.

“We’ve got guys that stayed the course and love each other,” Braxton said. “It was a ‘Next Man Up’ mentality. We found our rhythm and didn’t miss a beat.”

The special teams effort came in critical as well with Foster finishing with 118 yards on three kickoff returns and Tychaun Chapman recovering a muffed punt that led to a 22-yard touchdown pass from Braxton to Chuck Montgomery on the next play.

Marshall took a 17-7 lead into the halftime locker room after scoring a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter.

The Herd got into the end zone on the first play of the second quarter on a flea flicker when Braylon Braxton found Christian Fitzpatrick for a 51-yard touchdown after taking a pitch back from Ethan Payne, who threw a key block to give Braxton time.

After ODU scored to cut the Marshall lead to 10-7, the Herd increased its advantage back to two scores when Jordan Houston took a handoff across the left side and used a mammoth block from tight end Justin Holmes to race 30 yards for a score that set the halftime margin.

Marshall got on the board on its first drive of the game as kicker Rece Verhoff connected on a 43-yard field goal to start the scoring.

Defensively, Jaden Yates led Marshall with 13 tackles while Landyn Watson added nine. Harris had seven tackles and the sack.

With the win, Marshall now heads to James Madison next week with the SBC East Division title on the line. That game is scheduled for 8 p.m. and will be televised by ESPNU.

Marshall	3	14	10	15	=	42
Old Dominion	0	7	21	7	=	35

First Quarter

MRSH–FG Verhoff 43, 11:55.

Second Quarter

MRSH–Fitzpatrick 51 pass from Braxton (Verhoff kick), 14:52.

ODU–A.Young 24 run (Sanchez kick), 9:25.

MRSH–J.Houston 30 run (Verhoff kick), 2:21.

Third Quarter

ODU–A.Young 2 run (Sanchez kick), 13:03.

MRSH–FG Verhoff 31, 10:27.

ODU–Gladding 10 pass from Joseph (Sanchez kick), 6:47.

MRSH_C.Montgomery 22 pass from Braxton (Verhoff kick), 4:17.

ODU–Joseph 8 run (Sanchez kick), :52.

Fourth Quarter

MRSH–Chester 37 pass from Braxton (DeM.Harris pass from Braxton), 14:52.

ODU–Joseph 1 run (Sanchez kick), 8:23.

MRSH–E.Payne 1 run (Verhoff kick), 4:03.

A–18,083.

—————

	MRSH	ODU
First downs	21	24
Total Net Yards	469	513
Rushes-yards	42-259	46-286
Passing	210	227
Punt Returns	0-0	2-7
Kickoff Returns	3-118	3-45
Interceptions Ret.	1-0	0-0
Comp-Att-Int	13-24-0	19-31-1
Sacked-Yards Lost	1-8	1-6
Punts	6-39.333	6-45.5
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	3-1
Penalties-Yards	4-15	3-20
Time of Possession	26:04	33:56

—————

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Marshall, Braxton 18-140, Houston 9-56, Turner 10-53, E.Payne 4-12, (Team) 1-(minus 2). Old Dominion, Joseph 25-158, Young 18-111, Roche 3-17.

PASSING–Marshall, Braxton 13-24-0-210. Old Dominion, Joseph 19-31-1-227.

RECEIVING–Marshall, Chester 3-60, Fitzpatrick 2-69, C.Montgomery 2-32, Brown 2-30, E.Payne 1-7, T.Payne 1-5, Chapman 1-4, Houston 1-3. Old Dominion, Paige 7-103, Conroy 7-82, Vines 2-22, Gladding 2-19, Roche 1-1.

MISSED FIELD GOALS–None.