SUN BELT

Defense turns tide for ASU

MONROE, La. - John Thompson stopped Adam Kennedy in the locker room Saturday night and congratulated the Arkansas State quarterback on his three-touchdown night at Malone Stadium.

Kennedy, who rushed for two scores and threw for another in ASU’s 42-14 victory over Louisiana-Monroe, deflected praise back toward Thompson, ASU’s defensive coordinator, and his group.

“He came over and gave me a big hug and said ‘great game,’ ” Kennedy said. “I said ‘Hey, we had a great game because of you guys.’ The offense completely fed off the defense.”

The Red Wolves (5-4, 3-1) emerged from a 14-14 halftime, outscoring the Warhawks 28-0 in the second half.

Two of ASU’s second-half touchdowns were set up by interceptions and two others came after defenders blocked kicks as the Red Wolves snagged their 10th consecutive Sun Belt Conference road victory and marked their most lopsided conference road victory since the league was formed in 2001.

Kennedy, who rushed for 102 yards on 22 carries and passed for 235 more, scored two second-half touchdowns and Michael Gordon, starting for the first time in place of suspended starter David Oku, scored two more as ASU ran away from a game that was tied 14-14 at halftime.

ASU’s defense intercepted Louisiana-Monroe quarterback Kolton Browning twice and held the Warhawks to 328 total yards to snag sole possession of second place in the Sun Belt and get within a victory of bowl eligibility for the third consecutive season.

“The most exciting team effort that we’ve had all yearlong,” ASU Coach Bryan Harsin said. “We needed to come out there and say a lot about who we are. I thought tonight we said a lot about who we are and who we can be.”

Safety Sterling Young intercepted Browning along the sideline to put ASU at the Louisiana-Monroe 36 early in the third quarter. Five plays later Gordon’s 1-yard run gave ASU a 21-14 lead, to start a string of defensive and special teams plays that produced four touchdowns in less than19 minutes of game time.

“I was telling the offense, ‘We’re going to get you the ball back,” safety Young said. “Three-and-out, or whatever way we need to. And we ended up getting a turnover and it swung the momentum.”

Defensive tackle Ryan Carrethers’ blocked a Justin Manton field goal that turned into an 8-yard touchdown run by Kennedy to make it 28-14.

Then, LaAngelo Albright blocked a third-quarter punt that was recovered at the Warhawks’ 3, and Kennedy later scored from from the 4.

Then, Artez Brown intercepted Browning at the Louisiana-Monroe 31 and Gordon turned that into an 8-yard run for the final score to give ASU its fourth consecutive victory in the series.

“There’s not any difference between anybody in this conference,” Louisiana-Monroe Coach Todd Berry said. “It’s who shows up that night. They showed up, we didn’t show up as well as we needed to.”

Carrethers said ASU’s defense was dominant from the start, holding Louisiana-Monroe to 137 yards rushing.

“I think they were definitely afraid of running in the middle,” Carrethers said. “I think we pretty much handled them.”

The defense played without cornerback Andrew Tryon, who had started the past two games but was suspended and didn’t make the trip, along with Oku.

Harsin said Tryon and Oku were suspended because of a violation of team rules.

Harsin said both will be in team meetings today and expects them to play Saturday against Texas State.

“I’m proud of the guys who had to be in the positions to replace two guys who had been playing all year long,” Harsin said. “They really rallied around each other all night, so I thought that was a huge part of our growth as a football team.”

The offense flowed just fine without Oku, ASU’s leading rusher.

Gordon and Sirgregory Thornton each carried 17times for 72 yards in place of Oku, the Red Wolves’ leading rusher. The 259 yards rushing were ASU’s most since a season-opening victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Gordon rushed for three touchdowns and scored a fourth when he caught a screen pass from Kennedy and went 51 yards down the left sideline to make it 7-0 in the first quarter, to kickstart ASU’s best all-around effort of the season.

”We can be a really good football team if we do that,” Harsin said. “And I think that’s the whole key to it, just being consistent as we can in all phases.”THURSDAY’S GAME Louisiana-Lafayette 41, Troy 36 SATURDAY’S GAMES Western Kentucky 21, Army 17 Arkansas State 42, La.-Monroe 14

Sports, Pages 23 on 11/10/2013

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