OWENSBORO, Kentucky -- The Lake Erie football team competed in another Great Midwest matchup this weekend on the road against the Kentucky Wesleyan College Panthers. After falling early, the Storm responded in a huge way and took down the Panthers 29-23. The win now improves their record to 2-4 on the season and 1-3 in G-MAC play.

Game Recap
The two sides have long sat at the bottom of the G-MAC standings together with their meetings usually being very hard-fought. This matchup was no exception.

The Storm received the ball to begin the game but their first drive was uneventful after a quick three-and-out. Kentucky Wesleyan had quite the opposite result on their first offensive series as they scored on just four plays but failed to covert a two-point conversion, putting them up 6-0.

Towards the end of the first quarter, the Panthers marched down the field and on the first play of the second quarter, they converted a 19-yard field goal to extend their lead to 9-0. They extended it once more with 5:35 remaining after a six play, 78 yard drive resulted in a touchdown due to a 49-yard rushing play from Brandon Mackey. This score put the Panthers up 16-0 as the Storm offense continued to search for a way to put points on the board themselves.

In their next series, they finally got on the board when Jaffer Murphy once again broke his own Lake Erie and G-MAC record with a successful 58-yard field goal attempt. This kick now ties him for the third longest this season (NCAA DII) and gives him the 12th longest field goal in NCAA DII history. Murphy tacked on a short field goal at the end of the quarter to trim the Storm deficit to 16-6 entering the second half.

To begin the third, the Storm defense once again allowed a huge run play from Mackey to hurt them. On the Panther's second play of the second half, he broke free for a 69-yard run to give Kentucky Wesleyan a 23-6 lead.

Lake Erie was not able to respond in the quarter but in the beginning of the fourth, they finally got a touchdown after Alec Lewis found Keyshawn Johnson on a 19-yard play to trim the lead to 23-14. This would prove to be a huge momentum shifter for a Storm offense that was needing a jolt.

The Lake Erie defense stopped the Panther's next drive on fourth down and the offense responded with a quick two-play, 50 yard drive, capped off on a 29 yard pass from Lewis to Tae'Sahaun Johnson who has emerged as a top target for Lewis.

With this score, the Storm were now withing striking distance of the lead, trailing just 23-21 with over 10 minutes left to play.

Lake Erie caught a break during the Panther's next drive after a fumble led to a Storm recovery on the LEC 47. The Storm offense then marched 53 yards down the field on 11 plays and capped off the drive with a three-yard rushing touchdown by Krys Riley-Richardson to bring the team all the way back and take a 29-23 lead with less than two minutes remaining. 

Kentucky Wesleyan made things interesting though on their final drive. They moved all the way down the field to the LEC 18 with roughly 20 second left. Kentucky Wesleyan quarterback Joey Cambron would then drop back and fire a strike right to Ronald Cutts III who took the ball out to the LEC 35 and sealed the comeback victory for the Storm.

Lewis finished the day going 22-of-40 for 287 yards and two touchdowns. Johnson led all receivers with 75 yards on four receptions while Nick Mosly led the ground attack with 48 yards on 11 carries.

Defensively, Emarion Perkins led the team again with nine tackles and Cameron Webb racked up seven of his own while notching two tackles for loss.

The Matchup
Kentucky Wesleyan remains the only team in the G-MAC that has an all-time losing record against the Storm. Lake Erie now improves to an impressive 7-3 all-time against the Panthers and they get back into the win column after falling in last year's matchup, 43-37.

Looking Ahead
Lake Erie returns home next week, Saturday, October 19th to face the Hillsdale College Chargers. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Jack Britt Memorial Stadium.