Reserves lead Ohio past Georgia Southern in Myrtle Beach Bowl

CONWAY, S.C. — Rickey Hunt woke up edgy and nervous Saturday, having no idea he would soon have one of the best performances in Ohio football history.

Hunt, a freshman, ran for four touchdowns and caught a fifth as Ohio overcame a host of transfer portal losses to win its fifth-straight bowl game, beating Georgia Southern 41-21 at the Myrtle Beach Bowl.

“I did not see this coming at all," said Hunt, pressed into service when the Bobcats top two running backs in Sieh Bangura and O'Shaan Allison entered the portal after combining for 1,263 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Hunt's five touchdowns were the best single-game showing ever for the Bobcats. He finished with 115 yards and had scoring runs of 2, 6, 40 and 9 yards. Hunt also had an 18-yard TD catch off a jump pass from fill-in quarterback Parker Navarro.

“The last two weeks, it was shaky,” Hunt said. “We lost some big players.”

Along with Bangura and Allison, Ohio played without starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke, who threw for 2,207 yards and 11 touchdowns, but also went to the portal and committed to Indiana earlier this week.

The Bobcats (10-2) forced five turnovers, four off Eagles quarterback Davis Brin, to win 10 games in consecutive years for the first time in program history.

Navarro made his first career start after four seasons as a backup at UCF and Ohio.

“He played phenomenal,” Hunt said of his quarterback, who passed for 120 yards and ran for 71.

Ohio's defense made it all stand up. They held Georgia Southern (6-7) to 35 yards in the first half. Brin, who won this game's MVP in 2021 in leading Tulsa to a 30-17 victory, threw an interception on the game's fourth play to safety Jeremiah Wood.

Things didn't get much better after that with a pick by safety Adonis Williams Jr. before losing the ball on a fumble when Brin was sacked from behind by Wood.

“I'm not going to lie, that may have been one of the best defensive games we've played in my time here,” said Wood, whose been with Ohio the past five seasons.

Ohio also sacked Brin five times.

Georgia Southern found some offensive rhythm in the second half and cut its deficit to 34-21 after Brin threw scoring passes of 65 yards to receiver Derwin Burgess Jr. and 15 yards to tight end Jjay Mcafee. But the Eagles could get no closer.

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SALEM, Va. (AP) — Zac Boyes threw for 349 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for 123 yards, Cortland stopped a 2-point conversion attempt with 90 seconds remaining, and the Red Dragons beat defending champion North Central 38-37 on Friday night for their first NCAA Division III championship.

Cortland (14-1), playing in the Stagg Bowl for the first time in program history, handed North Central (14-1) its first loss since the 2021 championship game. The Cardinals, in their fourth straight title game, won the 2019 national title in addition to last year.

Both teams scored in the final 1:41 — with North Central electing to go for 2 instead of a potential tying extra point with 1:20 to go. Quarterback Luke Lehnen was stuffed on a run to the left side and Cortland recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock.

“It means everything. I was over there talking to the officials on the sideline when we were kneeling it out and I'm like ‘We can kneel it, right? We can kneel it out and clock's at zero' and he said yes,” Cortland coach Curt Fitzpatrick said. “I can't believe it. It's amazing. I'm so proud of our players and coaches and our fan base that drove seven hours to be here.”

Cortland converted on a fourth-and-5 play near midfield with 3:49 to go in the fourth quarter and Cole Burgess ended the drive with a catch in the backfield before racing down the sideline for a 21-yard touchdown.

North Central scored 21 seconds later when DeAngelo Hardy was left wide open over the middle of the field and he cut back a defender to race for a 60-yard touchdown. The Cardinals, who average 60 points per game and rarely kick field goals, were denied back-to-back championship on the goal line.