Panthers hold off Miles, 40-28 - Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Box Score

The Kentucky Wesleyan College football team avoided the second-half meltdown that's plagued it in recent weeks.

While Miles College closed the gap in the fourth quarter, the Panthers had built a large enough lead by early in the third quarter to claim a 40-28 win on a sunny Saturday at Steele Stadium.

The Panthers (4-5) scored 34 points in the first half and held a 40-7 advantage before Miles got going late.

KWC had lost leads in the last two of its four straight losses before Saturday.

The Panthers watched Chris Owen get hit time and again by a blitzing Miles defense, yet he still threw four touchdown passes and completed 18-of-37 attempts for 217 yards with one interception.

"We knew they would bring the house every time, and the offensive line did a good job picking up what they could," Owen said. "If I could stand in there, get the pass away and take the hit, the guys would make the play."

Owen set season records for completions (209), passing yards (2,599) and passing touchdowns (27), and added a career record for completions with 529.

"When your getting cover 0 (blitz) from a team, you've got to have a tough quarterback who can take shots," KWC coach Brent Holsclaw said. "I don't know how Chris was getting some of those passes off with the shots he was taking."

Darius Henderson also contributed one of the best days rushing in KWC's history. The freshman from Evansville Harrison ran 30 times for 200 yards and a touchdown. It was the third-most carries and sixth-most rushing yards in a game.

"The offensive line was clicking on all cylinders, and I just followed them," Henderson said.

The 5-foot-7, 170-pounder also did a good job working the seams when Miles blitzed in the first half. Henderson was key in a 7-play, 5:31 drive in the fourth quarter that effectively killed any chance of Miles having another possession, or enough time, to put more pressure on KWC.

"He's got good speed, but he's also got power behind his running," Holsclaw said.

Henderson got KWC on the board first with a 14-yard run barely two minutes into the game. Kicker Matt Wilson followed that with field goals of 21 and 25 yards.

Owen threw a 21-yard touchdown to DaMarcus Ganaway and a pair of 11-yard scoring strikes to Vincent Lalonde in the first half.

Lalonde caught six passes for 99 yards. Ganaway made five catches for 62 yards. David Smith caught a 9-yard scoring pass from Owen early in the third quarter to make it 40-7.

The Panthers had 439 yards of total offense. Miles had 348.

Jordan Lewis scored on a 1-yard run, Jerromy Mardis had a 32-yard punt return for a touchdown, and Carlton Hill had an 8-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter for Miles.

KWC got a huge defensive effort despite all the fourth-quarter scoring. The Panthers were able to pin Miles (3-7) back deep in its own territory several times.

While KWC was able to almost move the ball at will, the first half was also marked by plenty of extra-curricular activities on both sides.

There were 115 yards in penalties and four players, two on each side, were ejected from the game.

Miles was hit with 14 flags for 157 yards, while KWC was penalized seven times for 91 yards.

"There was a lot of mouthing going on (with both sides), and it got pretty bad out there," Holsclaw said.

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