The Thundering Herd defeated the Miami RedHawks Saturday during their first home matchup at Joan C. Edwards Stadium, with a score of 31-26.

The Herd’s offense proved superior throughout the game, set in motion by junior running back Keion Davis’s 99-yard return touchdown near the beginning of the game. Davis followed up his first touchdown with a 97-yard return in the second quarter.

“I just do what they brought me here to do,” Davis said. “Be an athlete.”

A major turning point in the game came when sophomore defensive back Chris Jackson took back a 72-yard interception propelling the score to 28-13 late in the third quarter.

“It was third down and my team was counting on me to make a stop, and I did,” he said.

Jackson looks to improve off of last season and become a more dominant force on defense.

Quarterback Chase Litton achieved his first touchdown pass of the year in the second quarter after throwing a 22-yard pass to junior Tyre Brady.

“I just put it in a spot where he could get it,” Litton said of his pass to Brady. “He is a tremendous football player and he is going to win a lot of games for us this year.”

Litton finished the game with 208 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Head Coach Doc Holliday was pleased with the team’s performance, but sees room for improvement.

“I told them Friday, if we play great on special teams then we would win the game,” Holliday said. “There are so many unknowns in the first game. We will get better. A lot of guys were out there for the first time.”

Other bright spots for The Herd were FR wide receiver, Willie Johnson, who accounted for 88 yards off of seven receptions and senior kicker Kaare Vedvik, who punted four times for 196 yards and averaged 49 yards per punt. The Herd started off the season 1-0 and look to use the momentum to pull out another win at North Carolina State next Saturday.

Brigham Warf can be contacted at [email protected].