Marshall University Athletics
Leftwich Delivers As Herd Reclaims MAC Crown
12/7/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Leftwich Delivers As Herd Reclaims MAC Crown
12/7/2002
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Byron Leftwich got up from a hit that sparked a fight to throw two late touchdowns, including a 40-yarder with 49 seconds left as Marshall beat Toledo 49-45 in the Mid-American Conference championship game Saturday.
Leftwich went 32-of-42 for 404 yards and four TDs to overshadow the four rushing touchdowns by Toledo redshirt freshman Trinity Dawson, who finished with a career-high 130 yards.
The game was marred by a third-quarter fight that started when Leftwich took a late hit from linebacker David Gardner after an interception.
Marshall lineman Steve Peretta then went after Gardner, and Toledo lineman Lantz Jeudy retaliated against Peretta.
Several Toledo players rushed onto the field and players from both teams exchanged shoves before order was restored.
Gardner was called for a personal foul. Peretta and Jeudy were ejected.
The hit didn't to bother Leftwich, who already was slowed by a shin injury sustained a month ago.
Leftwich, who has 4,019 passing yards this season, became the conference's all-time leading passer Saturday with 11,654, surpassing the 11,299 yards set by Tim Lester from 1996-99.
Marshall (10-2) won its fifth championship since rejoining the league six seasons ago. The exception was last year, when Toledo won 41-36 after trailing 23-0.
Toledo (9-4) fell behind again Saturday, trailing 14-0 in the first quarter and 28-10 late in the second.
And again, the Rockets came back.
Toledo overcame a 17-point deficit behind Dawson, who had second-half TD runs of 2, 10 and 2 yards to go with a 37-yarder in the second quarter.
The lead changed six times in the second half.
Dawson's 19-yard run set up Jones' 1-yard plunge with 3:35 left in the game, but Jason Robbins missed the extra point wide right and Toledo led 45-42.
Marshall got the ball back on its 27 with 3:24 left. Toledo missed a chance to ice the win when Keon Jackson dropped a possible interception.
A few plays later, Patrick Body was called for pass interference with 54 seconds left, giving Marshall a first down at the Rockets 40.
On the next play, Leftwich hit Darius Watts at the 10 and he scored, untouched.
With no timeouts, Toledo drove to the Marshall 39, but Jones' pass was knocked down in the end zone as time ran out.
Jones finished with 221 yards passing to become Toledo's single-season passing leader with 3,115 yards, breaking the mark of 2,955 set by Chris Wallace in 1997.
The teams already were penciled in for bowls before the game. Marshall will head to the GMAC Bowl for the second straight year on Dec. 18 in Mobile, Ala., while Toledo will make a return trip to the Motor City Bowl on Dec. 26 in Detroit.
The 94 combined points broke the MAC title game record of 77 set last year by the two teams.