Click here for multimedia on this story.
It took 46 minutes after kickoff for the first set of fireworks to go off in Houchens Industries-L.T. Smith Stadium Saturday afternoon.
But the echoing display after each home score occurred four more times on Western’s way to a 26-6 victory over Eastern Kentucky in the “Battle of the Bluegrass.”
“We were down there a little bit in the first (quarter), and we responded,” senior linebacker Dusty Bear said. “We responded together and as a team we came out fired up.”
The Toppers (2-1) travel to out-of-state rival Middle Tennessee State Thursday for a 6 p.m. kickoff against the Blue Raiders (0-3).
Western’s defense and special teams greatly contributed to the victory over Eastern.
The Colonels (1-2) led by three until Western junior linebacker Alonzo Higgins tackled Eastern running back Bobby Washington in the end zone for a safety two minutes into the second quarter to cut the Eastern lead to 3-2.
The Toppers scored on the next drive when redshirt freshman K.J. Black threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Quinterrance Cooper.Western took a 9-3 lead and never looked back.
Special teams scored in the third quarter when sophomore defensive back Jihad Morris blocked a punt which was recovered in the end zone by junior running back Stephen Willis.
Despite three turnovers, the Toppers collected 422 yards of total offense. Eastern marched 215 yards on its way to two field goals.
“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot a little bit with some turnovers at costly times,” sophomore wide receiver Jake Gaebler said.
Senior wide receiver Curtis Hamilton led the Toppers with a career-high 12 catches for 139 yards. Cooper caught the ball four times for 61 yards and a touchdown. Gaebler tallied four catches for 44 yards.
“That’s something we got to continue to do, get the ball to Curtis Hamilton,” head coach David Elson said. “He obviously knows what to do when he gets it and is a threat every time he touches it.”
Junior quarterback David Wolke went 16-28 for 139 yards with an interception. Black went 9-13 for 114 yards and a touchdown. Wolke rushed for 40 yards, Black for 27.
“We got a lot of total yards and moved the ball well passing,” Gaebler said.
Elson said in a press conference Monday that they will continue to start Wolke at quarterback and bring Black in for a few series during games.
“We won the football game by playing both of them,” Elson said.
A team goal for the Eastern game was to break the attendance record of 20,428 set in 1968 against the Colonels. While they were not able to reach that number, the 17,500-capacity stadium packed in 18,898 fans for the contest.
“I think we did the best we could and that’s something we have to continue to build on,” Elson said. “But I thought it was a great crowd. They were into it.”
Reach Will Perkins at sports@chherald.com.
.