MIAMI — Arkansas State’s season came to an end in familiar fashion.
Everything was decided in the closing minutes.
T.Y. Hilton caught a 42-yard touchdown from Wes Carroll with 1:42 left as Florida International rallied to beat the Red Wolves 31-24 on Saturday to clinch the Sun Belt Conference title.
Hilton finished with 11 catches for 140 yards for the Golden Panthers (6-5, 6-1 Sun Belt), who captured the school’s first football conference title. Carroll completed 21 of 27 passes for 266 yards with 1 interception.
Arkansas State (4-8, 4-4) lost its final three games of the season. The Red Wolves lost in overtime to Western Kentucky on a two-point conversion at home before falling at Navylast week.
Hilton caught a pass on slant route - surrounded by Arkansas State players - but evaded four defenders and raced toward the right corner of the end zone. Wayne Times scored on a two-point conversion off a bootleg play to give Florida International a sevenpoint cushion.
Florida International’s Jarvis Wilson broke up a pass by freshman quarterback PhillipButterfield with 49 seconds left to clinch the victory.
Sophomore Ryan Aplin completed 8 of 19 passes for 126 yards and 2 touchdowns for the Red Wolves.
Florida International’s winning drive began with 7:33 left in the game and the Red Wolves holding a 24-23 lead. The Red Wolves had Florida International on second-and-21 at the Golden Panthers’ 9 early, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a defensive holding penalty on consecutive plays kept the drive alive.
With 3:34 left, Florida International faced fourth-and-7 at its 48, but Carroll found Hilton for a 9-yard completion.
Leading 24-23, both Red Wolves kickers failed to convert field-goal attempts. Bobby Zalud’s 45-yard attempt was deflected by defensive lineman Andrew Mattox, and Brian Davis hooked a 24-yard attempt wide left.
Griffin kicked a 35-yard field goal early for a 3-0 lead, but the Red Wolves answeredwith a 32-yard kick from Davis to tie it with 6:17 left in the first quarter.
Aplin threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Derek Lawson to give ASU a 10-3 lead to start the second quarter.
Florida International running back Darriet Perry scored on runs of 5 and 1 yards to help the Golden Panthers regain the lead 17-10 with 43 seconds remaining in the first half.
ASU came right back as Aplin found Allen Muse for a 35-yard touchdown pass with five seconds left in the half to tie it at 17.
Griffin converted a 23-yard field goal to put Florida International back on top at 20-17 with 6:29 left in the third quarter.
Dwayne Frampton threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Butterfield with 14:55 left as the Red Wolves regained the lead 24-20. Florida International pulled within a point with a 30-yard field goal from Jack Griffin.
Kelcie McCray led ASU’sdefense with 11 tackles. M.D. Jennings had 10 tackles.
Arkansas St. .....................3 14 0 7 - 24 Fla. International ...............3 14 3 11 - 31 First Quarter FlIn-FG Griffin 35, 8:51.
AkSt-FG B.Davis 32, 6:17.
Second Quarter AkSt-Lawson 12 pass from Aplin (B.Davis kick), 11:38.
FlIn-Perry 5 run (Griffin kick), 7:11.
FlIn-Perry 1 run (Griffin kick), :43.
AkSt-Muse 35 pass from Aplin (B.Davis kick), :05.
Third Quarter FlIn-FG Griffin 23, 5:50.
Fourth Quarter AkSt-Butterfield 4 pass from Frampton (B.Davis kick), 14:48.
FlIn-FG Griffin 30, 12:46.
FlIn-Hilton 42 pass from Carroll (Times run), 1:42.
Attendance-14,588.
Ark. St. Fla. Int.
First downs 22 21 Rushes-yards 27-154 42-121 Passing 154 266 Comp-Att-Int 12-32-0 21-28-1 Return Yards 33 (-3) Punts-Avg. 3-35.7 2-38.0 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-0 Penalties-Yards 6-60 10-95 Time of Possession 20:51 39:09 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING-Arkansas St., Butterfield 6-41, Lawson 6-33, Aplin 6-30, Thornton 5-28, Henderson 1-17, Frampton 1-4, Muse 1-2, Je.Robertson 1-(minus 1). Fla. International, Mallary 19-83, Perry 12-43, Hilton 1-8, Rhodes 2-4, Carroll 5-(minus 1), W.Younger 1-(minus 6), Team 2-(minus 10).
PASSING-Arkansas St., Aplin 8-19-0-126, Butterfield 3-12-0-24, Frampton 1-1-0-4. Fla. International, Carroll 21-27-1-266, Times 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING-Arkansas St., Muse 4-81, Frampton 2-30, Stockemer 2-18, Lawson 1-12, Murry 1-6, Butterfield 1-4, Robinson 1-3. Fla. International, Hilton 11-140, Frierson 3-29, Ellingson 2-36, Perry 2-28, Times 2-28, Mallary 1-5.
In other games involving Sun Belt teams, Chris Masson threw for 330 yards and two touchdowns as Louisiana-Lafayette (3-9, 3-5) blocked an extra point late to hold off Louisiana-Monroe (5-7, 4-4) 23-22 in Monroe, La. The Ragin’ Cajuns took a 23-13 lead when Masson connected with Ladarius Green for a 5-yard touchdown pass with 35 seconds left in the third quarter. Green finished with six catches for 120 yards for Louisiana-Lafayette. Masson also threw a 73-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Spikes in the second quarter. ... Corey Robinson threw for 304 yards as Troy (6-5, 5-2) became bowl-eligible with a 28-14 victory over Western Kentucky (2-10, 2-6) in Troy, Ala. Robinson completed 26 of 39 passes and threw for 2 touchdowns, both to Chip Reeves, for the Trojans. Robinson’s 47-yard strike to Reeves with 12:39 left in the game broke a 14-14 tie. Robinson also threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Reeves in the second quarter. Western Kentucky running back Bobby Rainey ran for 157 yards on 27 carries, running for first-half touchdowns of 9 and 5 yards, but Troy’s defense held the Hilltoppers to just 267 total yards. ... DwightDasher threw for two touchdowns and ran for two as Middle Tennessee (5-6, 4-3) defeated Florida Atlantic (4-7, 3-4) 38-14 in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Dasher completed 11 of 15 for 158 yards. The Blue Raiders also got 150 yards from Phillip Tanner on 15 carries, and Darin Davis returned two interceptions for a total of 101 yards.
Sports, Pages 33 on 11/28/2010