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 March 28, 2005 - Lexington, KY - Paced by rookie wide receiver Eric Magrini’s first three career touchdowns, the Lexington Horsemen scored early and often Saturday evening on their way to a 63-62 win over border-rival Ohio Valley in Rupp Arena in Lexington’s 2005 home opener.
The Horsemen (2-0), who raised the 2004 national championship banner prior to kickoff, were led by quarterback Dusty Bonner, who completed 17-of-29 passes for 196 yards and six touchdowns. Running back Derek Homer rushed for 36 yards and two touchdowns, while rookie Randy Bell rushed for 35 yards and a touchdown, and caught four passes for 56 yards and a touchdown. Magrini finished the game with 33 yards receiving and kicker Justin Hutton connected on his only field-goal attempt, a 39-yarder in the second quarter.
Lexington got on the board early to begin the game as Bonner found Magrini in the end zone from two yards out less than three minutes into the game to take a 7-0 lead at the 11:45 mark of the first quarter. On the Horsemen’s second possession of the game, Bonner threw to bell Bell, who broke free for a career-high 40-yard run with 6:52 remaining in the first quarter to push Lexington’s edge out to 13-0.
Ohio Valley’s Lamonte Coleman ran it in from the 4-yard line with 4:45 left in the opening period to cut the Greyhounds’ deficit to six, 13-7, with 4:39 left in the opening quarter, but Lexington used an illegal formation call against Ohio Valley to score their third touchdown of the quarter. Homer’s 1-yard run put the Horsemen up 20-7 at the 55-second mark.
The Greyhounds opened the second quarter with a touchdown and followed with another TD on their next possession. The Horsemen were only able to manage a field goal during that stretch and Ohio Valley pulled to within two, 23-21, at the 5:11 mark of the second quarter.
Two Lexington touchdowns late in the second quarter allowed the Horsemen to take a 37-27 advantage into the locker room at halftime after Magrini caught a two-point conversion toss from Bonner to cap Homer’s 1-yard touchdown run.
Magrini completed the hat trick to begin the third quarter with a touchdown with 13:01 left in the period to give the Horsemen a 44-27 lead. Ohio Valley scored twice in the third quarter to narrow Lexington’s advantage to 44-41, but Bonner had different plans for the Horsemen in the fourth quarter.
Bonner threw an 11-yard pass to former Ohio Valley player John Kendall Cooper to begin the fourth quarter as the Horsemen began to pull away, 50-41 with 14:30 remaining in the game. Though the Greyhounds would score again to come within two, 50-48, Bonner found Magrini for his fourth touchdown of the game, giving Lexington a 56-48 advantage with just under 10 minutes left.
Ohio Valley evened the score at 56 with just over six minutes remaining before a four-play drive by Lexington resulted in a 2-yard rush for touchdown to give the Horsemen a 63-56 lead with 2:11 left, but the Greyhounds, staying true to form, struck back with a touchdown with 18 seconds remaining. The two-point conversion would be intercepted as the Horsemen held on for the win.
The Horsemen return to action Saturday when they travel to Evansville, Ind., to face the Evansville Bluecats. Kickoff is slated for 8 p.m. EST and the game will be carried live on Supertalk 96.1 FM with Gary Ball and Bill Ransdell. For all of the latest information on Horsemen football, log on to their official Web site at www.lexingtonhorsemen.com.
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