Tag it:

?

CMU's Zurlon Tipton has plenty of unwanted company as he tries to gain ground against Toledo. Eric Page, below, scored four touchdowns and threw for another. Below, Ryan Radcliff gets off a pass. Photos by Nate Thompson.

Page scored two touchdowns through the air and two on kickoff returns, becoming the first Rocket ever to score twice in one game on kickoff returns. Page's first kickoff return was a 99-yarder in the first quarter that gave Toledo a 14-7 lead. His second was a 95-yarder in the third quarter that gave Toledo a comfortable 35-17 lead.

Page led the Rockets with 12 receptions for 127 yards, his sixth 100-yard game this season and 12th of his career. His final catch of the game, an 18-yarder on fourth-and-three, came with two minutes left in the game and clinched the victory.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Terrance Owens had another impressive outing, completing 24-of-32 passes for a career-best 304 yards and three touchdowns. He also caught a TD pass from Page in the fourth quarter.

Toledo got out to a fast start, scoring on a 75-yard bomb from Owens to junior wide receiver Kenny Stafford just 1:21 into the contest. Following an 11-play CMU drive that knotted the score, Toledo struck back with a 99-yard kickoff return by Page, the second-longest in school history and the longest in 62 years.

UT moved the score to 21-7 on a 10-play, 73-yard drive that culminated with a nine-yard TD catch by Page with 11:56 left in the first half. Page caught another TD pass just three minutes later, a 25-yarder, to push the margin to 28-7.

CMU (3-9, 2-6 MAC) cut the lead to 28-14 on a one-yard TD run by Zurlon Tipton with 3:31 in the first half, and then trimmed the lead even further, 28-17, on a 33-yard field goal by David Harman early in the third quarter.

But every time the Chippewas rallied, Page was there with the answer, this time with a 95-yard kickoff return with 10:29 left in the third quarter that gave UT a 35-17 lead.
CMU scored on a blocked punt with 13:02 left to play to cut the lead to 35-24. But Page answered one more time, tossing a 28-yard TD pass to Owens on a trick play with 10:39 to play to close out the scoring.

The Chippewas closed out the scoring on a two-yard dive by Tipton with 7:23 to play to cut the lead to 42-31. They had a chance to pull even closer following a blocked punt with 5:49 to play, but Toledo recovered a fumble on the very next play and ran out the clock.

The victory was sweet redemption for Toledo's 13 seniors, who beat CMU for the first time in their careers, snapping a string of five consecutive losses to the Chippewas. Toledo's seniors also beat Western Michigan and Bowling Green this season for the first time in their careers.

The eight wins for Toledo reflects a turnaround in the program. Following a 3-9 record in 2008, Toledo went 5-7 in head coach Tim Beckman's rookie season in 2009 and 8-4 this season.

Toledo's 8-4 record is its first winning record since a 9-3 mark in 2005. Toledo will resume practices next week and await a possible bowl invitation, which must be extended by Sunday, Dec. 5.

Courtesy of Toledo Athletics