Senior Robbie Wilson had one of the game’s biggest plays. With the score knotted 20-20 midway through the fourth quarter, Wilson made a juggling and acrobatic interception at the Miami two-yard line to stop a Falcons drive for a go-ahead score.

 

“That was a huge play,” Montgomery said. “Robbie did his job. He stayed home and made an unbelievable catch.”

 

“I’d definitely put it up there as the most acrobatic (catch I’ve had),” said Wilson, whoreturned the ball to the Miami 25-yard line.

 

Having dodged a Falcon bullet, the RedHawks put together one of their best drives of the year.

 

They marched 75 yards in 10 plays for the winning score. Every inch came on the ground with freshman J.R. Taylor squirming through the middle for the final five yards. Taylor, filling in for a banged up Thomas Merriweather, accounted for 69 yards on the game-winning drive and picked up 127 yards on 18 carries (7.1 ypc) for the game. Andre Bratton (59 yards) while Merriweather (29 yards) also contributed to a Miami running game that registered 218 net yards.

 

Montgomery noted the successful running game was particularly helpful on a day when redshirt freshman Clay Belton made his starting debut. Belton was 11 of 23 with no interceptions and one touchdown against the Falcons. “All the guys that (were) out there today just kind of took me under their wing,” Belton said.

 

The hosts drew first blood with a 31-yard Sinisa Vrvilo field goal at 12:02 of the first quarter to cap their first possession. Miami, however, came right back with an Andre Bratton six-yard TD run on its first drive.

 

The teams traded punts until Belton found Chris Givens on a 53-yard TD with 7:34 left in the second quarter. Nathan Parseghian’s extra point kick made it 14-3 RedHawks.

 

Junior BGSU quarterback Tyler Sheehan (34-21-1), who threw for 224 yards and two touchdowns against the RedHawks, brought the Falcons closer with a 29-yard TD strike to Corey Partridge at 1:51 of the second quarter.

 

A 73-yard punt return by Partridge put Bowling Green in business at the Miami 11-yard marker with 10:08 remaining in the third quarter. After rushing for seven yards, Sheehan threw a four-yard TD pass to Jimmy Scheidler and the PAT gave BGSU a 17-14 lead.

 

Sheehan also had a hand in a razzle-dazzle play that set up the Falcons' final score when he hit Anthony Turner on a play that gave Bowling Green a first down at the Miami 15-yard line.

 

The Miami defense stiffened, however, and Bowling Green got one yard on the next three plays before settling for a 34-yard Vrvilo field goal.

 

With Wilson’s interception thwarting a promising fourth quarter drive, the Falcons were shut out the rest of the way.

 

“Bowling Green – like the good team that they are – took the lead, and I really like the way we responded,” Montgomery said. “We stepped up on offense … and the defense played extremely well.”

 

Miami pulled even on a pair of Parseghian field goals (37 yards and 36 yards) before mounting what proved to be the winning touchdown drive.

 

Montgomery called the victory a “great team win,” and said he was happy his squad was finally rewarded for good efforts in practice. “When you don’t win as much as you like when you are working so hard, you could easily get discouraged … (but) the last couple weeks, we’ve had our best weeks of practice.”

 

The victory gives Miami a 2-5 overall mark, but more importantly puts the RedHawks at 1-2 in league play. Bowling Green (3-4 overall) is also at 1-2 in MAC competition. Every team in the MAC East now has at least two losses.

 

“This was a huge game for both teams," senior defensive lineman Joe Coniglio said. “We came out, and we just had to give it everything that we had.”

 

Miami will host Kent State in a homecoming game Saturday. Bowling Green travels to Northern Illinois.