The “Kent GRIT” era is officially underway following the Flashes’ 38-10 victory over Central Connecticut State University Saturday at Dix Stadium.

With the victory, coach Kenni Burns earned his first collegiate win. 

“It’s a special moment, and I am not going to underplay that,” Burns said. “You’ve worked so hard to be a head coach to get a win. I love those kids, and they work so hard. Whenever I change the bar, they come up to it, so to do that with them makes it really special.”

Kent State improved to 1-2 on the season, jumping to fifth in the Mid-American Conference East Division, leaving Buffalo the only team without a win in the MAC.

CCSU fell to 1-2, putting them in second-to-last place in the Northeast Conference standings.

“I am excited for our young men,” Burns said. “They’ve worked so hard up to this point. We wanted a personal record with how we played today, and they did that. They played way better than they played last week.”

Senior defensive lineman and team captain CJ West said the win starts before game time.

“It started with the preparation we had this week – we worked really hard,” he said. “It helps our team with motivation, and the preparation helped us as a team to get this win.”

The Flashes jumped out to an early 7-0 lead with a 2-yard rushing touchdown by sophomore Gavin Garcia.

It was the team’s first touchdown of the season – KSU never gave up the lead in the game.

“They started fast – they came out of the gate swinging in the first drive, and they accelerated in the middle,” Burns said. “We’re still working on finishing strong, but we’re getting closer. I am happy with what they did today because we made progress, but next week we have to finish.”

Kent State took an eight-play, 67-yard drive to the endzone on the next drive, which was finished off by a 40-yard touchdown pass from redshirt junior quarterback Mike Alaimo to sophomore wide receiver Trell Harris.

“Trell’s a great player, he works really hard in practice,” Alaimo said. “We stayed after practice every day this week throwing deep balls, which paid off. Guys like Chrishon (McCray) and Luke (Floriea) are also great players and are really fast, so it’s great to get them the ball.”

Kent State led 14-0 after the first quarter but would put one more touchdown on the board before halftime, coming on a 25-yard rushing touchdown from Garcia, his second score of the game.

KSU expanded on its 21-point lead in the second half by scoring 17 more points in the third quarter.

The scoring came from a five-yard rushing touchdown from Alaimo, a 24-yard field goal from junior kicker Andrew Glass, and a 23-yard rushing touchdown by redshirt senior running back Jaylen Thomas, finishing Kent State’s scoring for the game.

CCSU would add 10 points to their score on a 17-yard rushing touchdown and a field goal, but the gap was too large, finalizing the 38-10 score.

Alaimo earned his first win as the starting quarterback for the Flashes.

The redshirt junior threw for 172 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. He also ran the ball five times for 18 yards and a touchdown.

“What I love about Mike is the leadership,” Burns said. “Mike has a couple of years left with the same group of  receivers, same o-line, and the more you get them together, the better off we are.”

Kent State followed up its 26-yard rushing effort against Arkansas by putting up 295 yards on the ground against CCSU.

Burns credited the offensive line, who also did not allow a sack.

“The o-line played way better and took a big jump this week,” he said. “We challenged them all week, and it paid off – the guys played really hard and played together.”

Garcia led the way, rushing for 125 yards and two scores, while getting contributions from Thomas (71 yards and one touchdown) and Xavier Williams (62 yards).

“He (Garcia) had a great day – he ran hard and broke tackles,” Burns said. “I told him that we were going to ride him today; we did, and he did a great job.”

Harris was the best receiver of the day for Alaimo, catching three balls for 94 yards and a score.

The KSU defense saw two quarterbacks throw the ball this week.

They combined for six completions on 17 attempts, 50 total yards, and two interceptions.

The interceptions came from redshirt senior safety Jalani Williams and senior linebacker Khali Saunders.

“They play cohesively together – they play fast, and they play smart,” Burns said. “They’re getting better each game. If they keep growing at the rate they’ve been growing, they’re going to be special this year. Today, I said, ‘there needs to be a dominant performance from the defense; I want to see you take the ball away and give them nothing.’”

The KSU defense only allowed 153 total yards and 10 first downs, a figure which they doubled CCSU on.

“I trust everybody – we’re such a close group, we’re so tight,” West said. “I don’t think it would be a drop-down from me not playing; that’s how much I trust that group. When we play as a unit, it makes it really hard to pass or run against us. If we can continue to play as a unit, it’s going to be a great season for us.”

West tallied four tackles, with two going for a loss of yards.

Kent State averaged 6.67 yards per play, while the Blue Devils averaged 2.89, and KSU held the ball for more than seven minutes more than CCSU did.

The Flashes put many backup players into the game in the fourth quarter, including quarterback Tommy Ulatowski.

“It will be a great learning experience for them because, at some point, we are going to need our depth to kick in,” Burns said. “They got meaningful reps today, and we’ll get them better.”

Looking Ahead

“It was a great first win, crowd, and environment,” Alaimo said. “There was a big emphasis on the big guys, and they came out and blocked all day long.”

Kent State will look to stay hot next week at Fresno State.

The Bulldogs have a 2-0 record this season and have put themselves in first place in the Mountain West Western Division.

This will be the first matchup against Fresno State in program history.

Kickoff will be in Valley Children’s Stadium in Fresno, California, at 10:30 p.m. Saturday.

“The team will have great confidence,” West said. “These last two games, we’ve put on a show, and it’s given us momentum into the rest of the season. If we keep practicing hard and doing the things in practice that we need to do, challenging each other, we’ll continue to play at this high level.” 

John Hilber is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].