Tarleton State Stays Unbeaten with Late Score over Eastern Kentucky
Four lead changes, two ties, and the last one belonged to the home team. Tarleton State got the winning touchdown, a 25-yard pass from Kaden Anderson to B.J. Fleming, with 1:54 left, and beat Eastern Kentucky 28-24 to move to 8-0.
Eastern Kentucky made it hard. Brady Hensley ripped off a 63-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to answer Tarleton's opening score, and Jakobie Hughes caught a 5-yarder with 30 seconds left in the half to make it 14-14. A Devin Orr field goal early in the third put the Colonels up 17-14, and that is where it stood entering the fourth. Miequle Brock's 34-yard run flipped it to 21-17, Hensley's 2-yard score with 3:18 to go flipped it back at 24-21, and then Tarleton needed about a minute and a half of game clock to flip it for good.
The yardage says Tarleton should not have needed the drama. The Texans piled up 572 yards to 474, with 351 through the air, and they did it on just 30 rushing attempts for 221 yards. Eastern Kentucky carried 47 times for 191. The catch for Tarleton was two interceptions from Anderson, against none thrown by Eastern Kentucky, and a lost fumble on top. It is still 8-0. I will take it.
Eastern Kentucky falls to 3-5, and with the way this one went, the record is a little unfair.
For fantasy, Anderson's 29.1 points was well under the 40.2 he had averaged over his previous three, but Marquis Willis (173 yards on four catches) and Hensley (two touchdowns) both had season highs.