TROY, Ala. — Kimani Vidal scored a pair of touchdowns and Troy defeated Western Kentucky 27-24 on Saturday.
Vidal, coming in ranked third nationally at 131.7 yards dashing per recreation, completed with 156 on 26 carries. His 8-yard landing run after initially being stopped behind the road, gave the Trojans (2-2) a 27-17 lead with 5:37 to go.
Chris Lewis caught a Hail Mary from Gunnar Watson for a 40-yard rating to finish the primary half and take the lead for good at 10-7. The Hilltoppers’ second muffed punt of the sport led to Vidal’s 19-yard rating and a 17-7 lead.
Watson was 22 of 35 for 349 yards passing and one landing. Lewis, who had a pair of spotlight reel receptions on his Hail Mary catch and a one-hander that led to a Scott Taylor Renfroe discipline objective for a 20-14 edge, completed with 101 yards on three catches. Deshon Stoudemire had 99 yards on six catches.
After Vidal fumbled the ball out of the WKU finish zone for a touchback, the Hilltoppers (2-2) went 80 yards in a minute-and-a-half to shut the deficit to 27-24 on Austin Reed’s 12-yard move to Easton Messer with 2:29 remaining.
Troy was in a position to run out the clock with the assistance of a Vidal catch within the flat that he became a 28-yard acquire.
Reed was 23 of 39 for 268 yards passing and two touchdowns. Malachi Corley had 112 yards on 9 receptions and Messer 96 on six.
Troy outgained WKU 521-288 and held the Hilltoppers to twenty dashing yards. There have been 5 misplaced fumbles, three by the Trojans.
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AP faculty soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll