A year of painstaking but frustrating improvement ended warmly as Presbyterian closed out Morehead State, 31-27, on Saturday at Bailey Memorial Stadium, thanks to a timely defense with a taste for turnovers.

The Blue Hose stopped the Eagles just a week after Morehead State put a stop to Davidson’s Pioneer Football League title hopes.

Presbyterian (4-7, 2-6 PFL) relied on clutch defense while, at the same time, achieving its highest point total in three seasons as a member of the non-scholarship Division I assemblage.

A week earlier, Morehead State (4-7, 3-5) had knocked the Wildcats out of a first-place  tie at the top of the PFL. Drake (8-3, 8-0) nailed down the PFL title with a 13-9 victory over Butler. St. Thomas (8-3, 7-1) wound up second as Davidson (7-4, 6-2) lost, 45-14, to Dayton.

In front of 1,265 fans, Presbyterian overcame a 13-3 halftime deficit and took the lead for good on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Wesley to Tarik Mulder with 6:03 remaining.

Presbyterian never won in the PFL during 2021, under Kevin Kelley, and 2022, under Steve Englehart, whose Blue Hose played 11 games decided by less than 10 points.

Interceptions by Brooks Russ-Martin, Anthony Thornton and Caleb Francis played key roles in keeping the Kentucky-based Eagles at bay.

Russ-Martin, whose twin Bradley also starts in the Blue Hose defensive backfield, caused, recovered and returned a fumble 97 yards for a touchdown, and helped seal the outcome with a fourth-quarter interception. The siblings are sophomores from Travelers Rest.

Morehead State quarterback Bryce Patterson had thrown six TD passes versus Davidson.

According to PC officials, Brooks Russ-Martin’s fumble return was the longest in school history.

Linebacker Alex Herriott added nine tackles and finished the season with 18, the second most by a Blue Hose defender since 2008.

Both of Mulder’s receptions went for touchdowns.

Presbyterian also prospered on offense, piling up 391 yards. Tyler Wesley and Ty Englehart combined to complete 16 passes for 236 yards. Twelve seconds into the final quarter, Wesley hit Cincere Gill for a 47-yard scoring strike.

The PC defense allowed an average of only 144 passing yards, tentatively third at the FCS level.

Morehead State’s first-quarter first downs were all via penalty. The Eagles led, 7-3, because of Cooper Krezek’s block of a Mack Mikko punt and 44-yard scoop-and-score.

Mikko had opened the scoring with a 36-yard field goal, his 16^th.

Morehead State led 13-3 at halftime after a touchdown pass in the final 16 seconds from Bryce Patterson to Bradley West. A two-point conversion failed.

Presbyterian went right to work in the second half. It took five plays – one a 46-yard quarterback draw by Englehart and the final his six-yard pass to Mulder – and 1:56 to score … and less than two minutes after that, for wild misfortune. Mark McClelland stepped in front of Englehart’s pass and restored Morehead’s 10-point lead with a 35-yard pick-six.

Still in the third quarter, an unusual change of possessions occurred when Mikko had a field goal blocked – Crezek again! – but Patterson threw an interception, by Thornton, on the next snap. The Blue Hose came up empty when a fourth-down gamble at the 16 failed.

It wasn’t the last sudden turnabout.

Morehead State advanced all the way to the PC two-yard line, at which point Russ-Martin performed his bit of coast-to-coast artistry.

And it was still the third quarter.

The Eagles took a 27-24 lead with 9:00 left on Patterson’s 36-yard touchdown pass to on fourth-and-eight.

This time the Blue Hose put a victory to bed.

Wesley led a seven-play, 75-yard drive boosted significantly by a 43-yard completion to Dominic Kibby. The winning connection was to Mulder for 18.

Take a look at the stats here.

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