KEENAN "M---- F----N" STALLS!!!
KENT, Ohio - The chants on the field and in the locker room after the game were "Keenan 'M---- F----n' Stalls". I'll let you decode the censorship, but it was clear who the team thought had the biggest impact on their 38-31 win over MAC rival Northern Illinois.
"Keenan 'M---- F----n' Stalls. That's his name from now on," said sophomore linebacker Courtney Love who led the team with eight tackles in the win. "You can't say his name without that in it. He's the man. You don't throw at Keenan 'M---- F----n' Stalls late in games. Y'all should know better."
Stalls, the senior cornerback who has become known for his big plays late in games throughout his time in Kent, had possibly the two biggest interceptions of his career Saturday night. With Kent State up 38-31 with just over two minutes to play, Huskies' quarterback Matt McIntosh threw a corner route into the far corner of the end zone to sophomore receiver Blake Holder. Holder appeared to have beat Stalls and a perfectly thrown ball seemed destined to tie the game. Stalls, however, had other plans. The 6'0" corner chased Holder down and leaped in front of a nearly perfectly placed ball, got both feet down and secured the interception. The fans at Nix Stadium erupted as did the coaches and players on the Kent State sideline. Stalls made what appeared to be the game winning play.
The Huskies weren't going down that easy though. Kent State started from their own 20-yard line with 2:09 to play. Northern Illinois had all three timeouts and were able to force a three-and-out and only use two of their stoppages. The Golden Flashes punted the ball back to NIU and McIntosh and the Huskies were back on the move. With just over 30 seconds to play, Northern Illinois had moved to the Kent State 32-yard line. Trying to set up a 1st-and-goal from inside the five, McIntosh again looked to Holder running a deep out on the far sideline. Once again, the pass was nearly perfectly placed, thrown to the sideline and away from the defender. However, the defender was Stalls and his penchant for making big plays showed up once more. Stalls reached in front of Holder, over his right shoulder, and plucked the ball out of the air while managing to get his left foot down in bounds before coming to a rest on the sideline, ball in tow.
It was a remarkable finish to an unbelievable game on a cold, winter night in northern Ohio.
Northern Illinois led 21-7 at the end of the first quarter and 28-10 at one point in the second. McIntosh had completed four-of-five passes for 146 yards and three touchdowns and the Golden Flash seemed to have no answer for the Huskies triple option attack. But then the Kent State offense found a rhythm led by sophomore quarterback Neal Britt. Britt, making only his third start after starter Nic Buckley went down with a shoulder injury, engineered two late scoring drives in the second quarter to pull Kent within four at the half. The Golden Flash defense stood tall in the second half forcing a number of ill advised passes by McIntosh while significantly slowing the running game. Then, at the end of the game and with two chances to tie the score, Keenan 'M---- F----n' Stalls cemented himself as one of the best clutch players in the history of Kent State football.