While able to get her Diabetes under control, and dealing with minor bumps and bruises along the way, Dorsey was a major contributor to the Bobcats 2018 MAC Championship season, hitting the game-winning two-run homerun in the MAC Championship game, helping Ohio head back to the NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2014.

Central Michigan football was the Cinderella story of the Mid-American Conference this season.

But it was the Miami RedHawks who came away with the win in front of 22,247 fans at Ford Field on Saturday.

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Miami proved itself as the top team from a wild MAC season by holding off the upstart Chippewas, 26-21, in the conference championship game.

With the victory, Miami (8-5, 7-2 MAC) captured its conference-leading 16th MAC title in program history and the first under seventh-year head coach Chuck Martin.

Central Michigan (8-5, 6-3) heads into the bowl season after posting the biggest turnaround in program history with a seven-win improvement that leads all of the FBS.

[ How Quinten Dormady's 'rocky road' helped resurrect CMU football ]

Here are five takeaways from the game:

The big play

Trailing 20-14 in the fourth quarter, Central Michigan was driving deep into Miami territory when RedHawks’ senior cornerback Travion Banks intercepted Chippewas’ senior quarterback Quinten Dormady and returned it for a score.

However, an illegal block in the back took the points off the board and moved the ball back into Miami territory.

From there, the RedHawks ground out a 10-play, 59-yard drive capped off by a 48-yard field goal by Sam Sloman that gave Miami a 23-14 advantage.

Perhaps just as important as making it a two-score game, the drive ate up 6:01 of valuable clock time.

Special RedHawks

It was hard to imagine a better start for the RedHawks.

Senior returner Maurice Thomas opened the game with the longest kick return in MAC Championship history when he returned the ball 98 yards out of his own endzone. That set up a 1-yard touchdown run from junior running back Jaylon Bester to help give Miami a 7-0 lead in a little over a minute of action.

After the initial punch to the mouth, CMU settled in.

The Chippewas defense limited the RedHawks to a couple of first downs in the opening half. But Miami cashed in three more points on the strength of special teams.

In the second quarter, Sloman drove home a 41 field goal set up by the RedHawks defense, which sniffed out CMU's fake punt attempt inside the Chippewas 20-yard-line.

Sloman added field goals of 42 and 48 yards, the latter sealing the victory with 28 seconds left in regulation. He was tabbed the game’s Special Teams MVP.

“I was just ready for the last 30 seconds to be over,” Sloman said of his final field goal. “We’ve got a great team and everybody does their job. I don’t think people realize how important a snapper and holder are, or how important the o-line and wings really are. They do their job every time and make it really easy for me. I know when I go out there I will have an easy setup and it’s like kicking off the sticks.”

Defensive showdown

In a game featuring two of the top three defenses in the MAC, it came as little surprise that either offense struggled to move the ball.

Miami finished with 272 yards of total offense, led by receiver Jack Sorenson who earned the game’s Offensive MVP honor with eight receptions for 123 yards and a touchdown.

RedHawks linebacker Emmanuel Rugamba had 11 tackles and a pass breakup to earn Defensive MVP honors.

Central Michigan had 335 yards of total offense, with Dormady finishing 26 of 41 for 232 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Chips fight to the end

Central Michigan’s offense was largely conservative in the contest, but the Chippewas found ways to keep the game close.

Trailing by two scores with 1:24 to play, change-of-pace senior quarterback Tony Lazzaro plunged in for a 4-yard touchdown. The score capped off a nine-play drive that spanned 75 yards, and cut Miami’s lead to two.

Lazzaro finished with a team-high 48 rushing yards and two touchdowns on six carries.

CMU recovered the ensuing onside kick, but it was negated by an offsides penalty. Then after Miami capped off the scoring, the Chippewas drove to midfield where Dormady launched a Hail Mary pass that fell incomplete in the end zone as time expired.

“I know one thing, as I told the guys in the locker room, I have probably never been more proud of a group that I’ve been associated with in my coaching career,” said CMU head coach Jim McElwain. “What they have set themselves up to do and what they did – short of amazing.”

Mac Football Championship Game 2017

Going bowling

Both Miami and Central Michigan await invitations to their respective bowl games.

Among MAC schools, Buffalo has already accepted an invitation to the Bahamas Bowl. The other MAC tie-ins are the Dollar General Bowl vs. Sun Belt; the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl vs. Mountain West; the Camellia Bowl vs. Sun Belt; and the Cheribundi Tart Cherry Bowl vs. AAC.

McElwain, the MAC coach of the year with previous head coaching stops at Colorado State and Florida, has been the source of speculation among some of the job openings at Power Five programs. He said after the game he would “absolutely” coach the Chippewas in their bowl game.

Nick Buckley can be reached at nbuckley@battlecreekenquirer.com or 269-966-0652. Follow him on Twitter:@NickJBuckley.

The MAC Football Championship Game is a football game between the winners of the East and West divisions of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) to determine the conference champion. The game has been played since 1997, when the conference was first divided into divisions and since 2003 has been sponsored by Marathon Petroleum (officially known as the Marathon MAC Football Championship Game). The winner of the game is guaranteed a berth in a bowl game which the MAC has contractual obligations to field a team. Unlike the MAC's Group of Five contemporaries, which hold their respective championship games on campus sites, the MAC Championship Game is held at a neutral site, Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan since 2004.

In 2000, 2001, and 2007, due to an unbalanced conference schedule, the team with best division record within each division was awarded that division's championship game berth. In other years, the teams with the best overall conference records received a berth.

The game is held on the first Saturday in December, on the same weekend that other NCAA Division I FBS conferences hold their championship games.

Results by year[edit]

Below are the results from all MAC Football Championship Games played. The winning team appears in bold font, on a background of their primary team color. Rankings are from the AP Poll released prior to the game.

From 1997 through 2003, the championship game was played at campus sites. Since 2004, the game has been played at Ford Field in Detroit.

Mac Championship Football Game History Today

Results by team[edit]

Eastern Michigan is the only team currently in the conference to have not attended a Championship Game. Marshall is the only Championship Game Winner to not be a current member of the MAC.

MVPs[edit]

Mac Championship Football

Photo gallery[edit]

• Before 2006 MAC Championship Game

• 2006 MAC Championship: Central Michigan vs. Ohio

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Mac Conference Championship Game