BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (Courtesy of ODU Athletics) – Backup quarterback Colton Joseph led a game-winning 13 play, 79-yard drive culminated by a four-yard touchdown run from Aaron Young to lift Old Dominion Football to a 30-27 win at Bowling Green on Saturday night.

The Monarchs took a 17-14 halftime lead over Bowling Green behind quarterback Grant Wilson, who returned from an injury that kept him out of the Virginia Tech game.

But he did not return for the second drive after halftime after yet another injury and with three minutes left, the Monarchs trailed by four and needed a miracle.They got one from Joseph, who had little college experience before Saturday.

Joseph played only briefly against Virginia Tech before being benched in favor of true freshman Quinn Henicle. 

“But Colton had a good week of practice and we always want to go with the guy who gives us the best chance of winning,” said ODU Head Coach Ricky Rayhne outside a jubilant Monarch locker room.

“We thought Colton gave us the best chance of winning.”

It was a good choice. Joseph was poised, especially under pressure from blitizing Bowling Green defenders, and made big plays when he had to.

Rushed from the pocket four minutes into the fourth quarter, he ran for a 14-yard TD that gave the Monarchs a 23-21 lead.

That touchdown was set up by a Jahron Manning interception, and a subsequent 42-yard return, that gave ODU possession deep in Bowling Green territory.

Bowling Green retook the lead after a costly ODU penalty. 

With 3:55 left, and ODU holding the 23-21 lead, Bowling Green placekicker Jackson Kleather attempted to give the Falcons the lead with a 51-yard field goal.

The field goal attempt was short, but officials ruled that ODU defenders had used an illegal leap in an attempt to block the kick. That gave Bowling Green a first down on the ODU 18 and new life.

Two plays later, Terion Stewart rushed 13 yards for a touchdown and a 27-23 Falcons lead.

ODU had three timeouts and was patient on the final drive.

“We were able to run the ball because we were smart and had all of our timeouts,” Rahne said.

Perhaps the game’s biggest play came on fourth and six at the ODU 40 when Joseph passd 15 yards to tight end Pat Conroy, who caught three passes for 99 yards and two touchdowns.

The next biggest play came with 39 seconds left, when Joseph was again rushed from the pocket and broke loose for 21 yards and a first and goal at the Bowling Green 4.

ODU’s hurry-up offense immediately stepped to the line, and Joseph handed to Young, who hit defenders at the two but bulled over into the end zone.

“Colton didn’t play anywhere near his best football tonight and that’s what I think is so special,” Rahne said. “He comes in and finishes it like that. It was just so very special.”

Rahne said that after three losses in a row, he told his players on Friday night “to remember the little kid who loved playing football.

“I told them before that last drive, this is what the little kid is thinking of. He’s thinking of this last drive there, the last drive of the game.”

Joseph said he was energized, but not nervous, on the final drive.

“I knew we had to score to win the game,” he said. “I knew how much it meant to our team to win. 

“I knew the ball was in my hands. I had full control of that situation. 

“I wasn’t thinking we couldn’t do it. The whole team picked me up. The O line protected me. The receivers got open.”

ODU (1-3) begins its eight-game Sun Belt Conference schedule with back-to-back games at Coastal Carolina and Georgia State the next two weeks before hosting Texas State on Oct. 19 for Homecoming.

ODU opened the game with a 75-yard touchdown drive that took just three minutes and three seconds, and in which Wilson made several key plays.

On third and 4 at the ODU 34, Wilson was forced from the pocket and broke free for a 30-yard gain that put the Monarchs in Bowling Green territory.

Aaron Young rushed for 17 yards, and Wilson completed two passes including a 9-yard touchdown pass to Conroy for the touchdown with 11:57 remaining.

It took nearly 12 minutes but Bowling Green tied it back up on an 18-yard pass from Bazelak to Fannin with 31 seconds left.

ODU then stunned the Doyt L. Perry Stadium crowd of 19,140 into silence with a trick play on its next snap from scrimmage. Wilson rushed to the line as if he was running and everyone, including the Bowling Green safeties, bit on the fake.

Conroy, meanwhile, was streaking up the field and Wilson found him at the ODU 40. Conroy, a 6-foot-2, 235-pound redshirt senior transfer from Merrimack College of Massachusetts, then ran untouched for a 75-yard touchdown pass that took just 10 seconds off the clock.

After Bowling Green tied the scored at 14-all, ODU’s Ethan Sanchez kicked a 53-yarder with 8:33 to go that gave ODU a 17-14 lead. It was the second-longest field goal in ODU history.

ODU wasn’t able to hold onto that lead but claimed a victory in dramatic fashion. ODU lost leads in narrow defeats to East Carolina and South Carolina earlier this season. 

“It was fun,” Young said of scoring the game-winner.

“The whole game was fun. This feels so good because we’ve come so close before. We needed to get over the hump.”

And they did, in dramatic fashion.