EL PASO, TEXAS – Ray Lawry rushed for 131 yards and two touchdowns in the second half as Old Dominion University Football grinded out 261 yards of offense in the second half to defeat UTEP 31-21 Saturday night in El Paso.
UTEP (2-6, 1-4) took the opening kickoff of the second half and drove 75 yards in nearly nine minutes and scored on an Aaron Jones five-yard touchdown run to take a 13-7 lead. Rashaad Coward blocked the extra point.
Old Dominion (5-3, 3-1) followed with a seven play, 75-yard drive capped by a 15-yard touchdown pass from David Washington to Melvin Vaughn. On the play, Washington scrambled left and flipped a pass to Vaughn who broke two tackles and dove into the end zone to give ODU a 17-13 lead.
The Monarchs added to its lead as Lawry broke free for a 40-yard touchdown run. Lawry’s run gave him his 31st career rushing touchdown, the ODU career record.
Early in the fourth quarter ODU padded its lead with another Lawry score, this from a yard out. The score was set up by a 77-yard catch and run from Washington to Jonathan Duhart, the longest play so far this season for ODU.
UTEP added a late Ryan Metz to Cole Freytag touchdown for the final margin.
ODU kicked off the scoring with an efficient 12 play, 75-yard drive capped by a David Washington to Travis Fulgham seven-yard touchdown reception. Washington hit Zach Pascal for a 22-yard first down on third and seven and Jeremy Cox converted a fourth and one a play before the touchdown.
Following a Sean Carter interception, ODU failed to pick up a first down but Brad Davis drilled a career long 43-yard field goal for a 10-0 ODU lead midway through the first quarter
UTEP closed the gap to 10-7 right before halftime, driving 91-yards in 13 plays as Aaron Jones hit Hayden Plinke for a three-yard touchdown pass with 30 seconds left in the half.
Washington completed 14-of-22 passes for 262 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Duhart had five catches for 155 yards while Fulgham had three receptions for 44 yards and Zach Pascal had three grabs for 42 yards.
Anthony Wilson, TJ Ricks, Sean Carter and Brandon Addison each had six tackles for the defense. Carter had an interception as Bunmi Rotimi had 1.5 sacks.
Notes: Junior Rob Thompson started his first game of the season at safety … Travis Fulgham recorded a touchdown catch for the fourth-straight game … Sean Carter recorded his second interception of the season … Brad Davis booted a career long 43-yard field goal in the first quarter … Davis has made six consecutive field goals, and kicked a field goal in four-straight games … C.J. Bradshaw forced his second fumble of the season and Oshane Ximines recovered his second fumble of the season … Bailey Cate’s 51-yard punt was his third longest of the season … Rashaad Coward blocked UTEP’s third quarter extra point, the fourth blocked kick of his career … Melvin Vaughn caught his first touchdown pass of the season in the third quarter and fourth of his career … Jonathan Duhart caught a career-long 77-yard pass in the fourth quarter … David Washington’s 262 passing yards is a season-high … Duhart had a season-high 155 receiving yards on five catches, five off from his career-high of 160 at UTSA last year … Bunmi Rotimi had 1.5 sacks giving him five on the year … Ray Lawry entered the game tied with Thomas DeMarco for the ODU career record with 30 rushing touchdowns … Lawry had two to take the record with 32 … David Washington had thrown 80-straight passes before his second quarter interception.