Denver Harper Scores Three Times as Austin Peay Stays Perfect
Chris Parson threw four touchdown passes and Denver Harper scored three times himself, and only one of those three was a catch. Austin Peay beat New Haven 42-17 to move to 5-0, and 14 of its 42 points came on two special teams returns.
Harper opened the scoring with a 10-yard touchdown from Parson. New Haven tied it at 7-7 on a Tommy Troy 4-yard catch, but Austin Peay answered 13 seconds later when Marvin Sims took a 65-yard pass to the house. Jack Morgese kicked a 20-yard field goal for New Haven to make it 14-10, and that was the closest anyone got the rest of the way.
The second quarter was the whole game. Jaden Robinson caught a 66-yard touchdown pass, Harper returned a punt 82 yards for a score, and Harper then took a blocked field goal back 100 yards, all within about nine minutes of game clock. It was 35-10 at the half. Take away the two returns and Austin Peay still leads 28-10, so I would not call it a gift. Nobody scored in the third quarter. Ben Marshall caught a 26-yard touchdown early in the fourth, and Troy got one more from Niko Boyce with 7:01 left.
The numbers are lopsided in an odd way. Austin Peay ran 17 times for 46 yards, and still racked up 355 total yards because Parson went 19 of 23 for 309. New Haven had 328 yards, no turnovers and no lead at any point. It falls to 1-4.
For fantasy, Parson (36.7) and Sims (26.1) both set season highs.