Matt Salopek, Rashad Amos help power Miami Redhawks football to MAC win over Akron Zips
OXFORD — Rashad Amos ran for for 118 yards and two touchdowns and Miami (Ohio) defeated Akron 19-0 on Wednesday night.
The Redhawks (8-2, 5-1 Mid-American Conference) had trouble getting untracked on offense. They came in averaging 29.8 points and 357.6 yards — they finished with 236 total yards — but the defense was more than up to the task.
In picking up their second shutout of the season they held the Zips (2-8, 1-5) to 212 yards.
Amos carried six times on the game-opening 75-yard drive, including a 40-yard burst, and scored on a 1-yard plunge. He had a 30-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
After Amos' second touchdown, Akron blocked the point-after attempt — the first miss of the season for Miami kicker Graham Nicholson. Nicholson made his first 29 PATs before that but he did improve to 19 of 19 on field goals with a 35-yarder in the second quarter and a 32-yarder in the fourth.
Yahsyn McKee had 10 tackles for Miami and preserved the win with an end zone interception with less than four minutes to play. Ty Wise had three sacks among his 10 tackles and Matt Salopek had nine tackles and one of the six Redhawks' sacks. Salopek has 102 tackles this season, his third straight with 100-plus tackles, the first Miami player to do that since 2004.
Jeff Undercuffler was 20-of-36 passing for 156 yards and two interceptions for Akron and, when he went out with an injury late in the first quarter, reserve Tahj Bullock went 2-of-6 passing for 20 yards. The Zips netted 36 yards rushing.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Miami Redhawks football shuts out Akron Zips in MAC game
