CLARKSVILLE – Freshman Jared Beard caught three touchdown passes from fellow freshman Mickey Macius while another freshman Otis Gerron ran for 137 yards as Austin Peay State University ended the nation's longest Football Championship Subdivision losing streak at 18 games as the Governors held off Murray State, 20-13, Saturday night, in Governors Stadium.

The Governors previous win came against Tennessee Tech, Nov. 17, 2012. It also was second-year coach Kirby Cannon's first win as Governor mentor. The Governors improved to 1-6 on the season and 1-2 in the OVC while Murray State fell to 2-5 and 1-3 in the OVC.  It was APSU's first home win against Murray State since Nov. 23, 1991.

The Governors were able to record that victory by forcing five Murray State turnovers—three of the turnovers ended up in the hands of sophomore cornerback Rod Owens. It was APSU's first forced turnovers since Week 2 against Chattanooga. The Govs turned those turnovers into two touchdowns while the Racers were only able to manufacture two field goals off two APSU turnovers.

APSU actually took its season's first lead in the second quarter as a result of a turnover. Rod Owens picked off KD Humphries, the reigning FCS Offensive Player of the Week, at the APSU 31 and returned it 39 yards to Murray State 30. On the next play, Macius hooked up with Beard for their first of three scores—a spectacular catch just inside the right pylon at the goal line. As a result, APSU also was able to take its first halftime (7-3) lead since the 2012 Tennessee Tech contest.

The Racers regained momentum to open the second half, scoring on its first drive as Pokey Harris culminated a 62-yard drive with a 24-yard TD run to take a 10-7 advantage.

But the Govs responded immediately with a sustained drive of their own, thanks largely to a roughing-the-passing penalty on a fourth-and-goal play. Macius' passing and Gerron's running got the Govs into scoring position. After the roughing-the-passer penalty gave the Govs new life at the seven, Macius found his fellow freshman in the flat and Beard picked his way into the end zone for an APSU 13-10 advantage.

That would be a lead the Govs would not relinquish. In fact, a mishandled 51-yard Ben Campbell punt set up APSU's final score. Owens fell on Janawski Davis' punt reception muff at the Murray 20-yard line. After a pass from Macius to Gerron pushed the ball to the Racers 14, Macius found Beard, who made a leaping fingertip grab on a fade route in the end zone's left quarter to give APSU a 20-10 advantage.

After the Governors defense held Murray State on consecutive drives to start the fourth quarter, the Racers took advantage of a Governors fumble, taking over at the APSU 31. Again, the defense held the Racers to a field-goal attempt as Carson Greifenkamp punched one through from 28 yards to cut the deficit to 20-13 with 4:49 remaining.

After forcing the Governors to punt, the Racers took at their own 44. They quickly move into striking territory, advancing to the APSU 37. But on a second-down play, Humphries found Jeremy Harness for an 11-yard completion to the APSU 26 but cornerback Montez Carlton forced a fumble, with sophomore linebacker Antonio Turner pouncing on it with 3:01 left.

Murray State burned their last two timeouts after two short runs before Macius and Beard hooked up one more time on a 11-yard pass play to give APSU a first down. Gerron then put the game away with a 41-yard run to the Murray State 22.

APSU coach Kirby Cannon, in fact, then had to call timeout when his club could not line up properly in the victory formation—it had been a while (700 days) since the Govs tasted victory.

Macius finished the contest 18 of 22 passing for 235 yards and no interceptions. The 82 percent passing was the Govs' first 80 percent passing effort since Jesse Kellogg completed 87.5 percent (21 of 24) of his passes against Kentucky Wesleyan, Sept. 27, 2003, during the non-scholarship era.

Beard finished with seven catches for 88 yards while Gerron ended with 137 yards rushing for his second straight 100-yard performance.

Defensively, Owens had two interceptions, a fumble recovery, seven tackles (one for loss). Meanwhile, inside linebacker Adam Noble ended the day with 10 tackles to lead in that category.

-AP-