Date: Saturday, October 25, 2008
Contact: Chris Kilcoyne, Sports Information Director
(804) 752-7387/ christopherkilcoyne@rmc.edu

Thornton Powers Randolph-Macon Past Frostburg State 21-12 on Homecoming
(Box Score) 

ASHLAND, VA - Behind 256 yards on 45 carries from running back Zak Thornton, the Randolph-Macon College football team upended visiting Frostburg State University 21-12 on Homecoming in Ashland.

His 45 carries is a career-high for Thornton, who has now carried the ball 35+ times in eight of his last 16 contests' and he fell just two short of the Randolph-Macon school record of 47 set by Remon Smith versus Emory & Henry in 1987. Thornton's 256 yards is six shy of his career-best which he set versus Guilford last season.

After a defensive struggle resulted in a scoreless tie for the first 27 minutes of the game, linebacker Christian Stahl appeared to have put R-MC ahead when he picked off quarterback Bryan Brosnan at the FSU 49 yard line and returned it all the way for a touchdown. The score was negated due to a block in the back by the Jackets and the ball was spotted on the Bobcat 20. The Yellow Jackets got the points back on the next play when Thornton scampered 20 yards to put R-MC up 7-0 with 3:07 left in the half.

R-MC would take that lead into the locker room at intermission and hold the Frostburg State offense in check until on its first possession of the second-half, Brosnan capped off a 14 play, 85 yard drive with a seven yard run to pay dirt. FSU botched the extra point attempt, keeping the Jackets in front 7-6 with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter.

On its ensuing possession, Randolph-Macon marched 68 yards on six plays in 2:34 and took a 14-6 advantage on a one-yard plunge by Thornton who accounted for all the yards on the drive.

Frostburg State took the kickoff and drove down to the R-MC 30. On fourth down, Jackets corner back Gabe Jones broke up a pass intended Makiha Cooper, giving Randolph-Macon the ball with 9:41 to play.

R-MC capitalized and took 4:54 off the clock, driving 70 yards on nine plays, with Austin Faulkner finding Alex Ramirez for a four-yard touchdown pass to increase the Jackets advantage to 21-6.

After a defensive stop by R-MC got the ball back for the offense, Thornton fumbled and it was recovered by FSU's Rashad James who brought the ball back to the R-MC 21 with 2:56 remaining. Aided by a pass interference call, the Bobcats took three plays to score on an Anton Wade two-yard touchdown run. Frostburg missed the two-point conversion, making the score 21-12 with 2:35 to play.

Earl Peoples and the R-MC special teams recovered the onsides kick and Thornton picked up two-first downs to seal the game and give the Jackets the victory.

Faulkner finished 6-of-14 for 51 yards with an interception, while Ramirez made four caches for 21 yards and a score.

Randolph-Macon's defense was led by Tristan Carr who had seven tackles, five of which were solo, two that were for lost yardage to go along with the a sack.

Wade rushed for 95 yards on the ground for FSU, while Brosnan was 11-of-23 for 124 yards. Kevin Mathews paced the defense with a game-high 11 stops.

Randolph-Macon will return to ODAC action next Saturday when it hosts Guilford College at 1:00 p.m.

-Yellow Jackets-