Sept 29, 2001

Final Stats| Quotes| Notes

By JOHN SEEWER
Associated Press Writer

TOLEDO, Ohio - Toledo's Chester Taylor wasn't going to let a shoulder bruise stop him. Not this early in the season. Not with the team's Top 25 ranking on the line.

Taylor returned from the locker room midway through the second half to spark the No. 25 Rockets to a 41-20 victory over Northern Illinois on Saturday night.

Toledo, making its earliest appearance in The Top 25 during any regular season, struggled after jumping to a 19-0 lead in the first quarter.

Taylor wouldn't admit afterward that he was hurt, but he also wasn't showing his usual flashes of speed. He did have some key carries during a 12-play, 86-yard scoring drive that gave the Rockets (4-0, 2-0 Mid-American) a 34-20 lead.

"Chester's fine, he's ready to roll," said Toledo coach Tom Amstutz.

His roommate, second-string running back Antwon McCray, capped the decisive drive when he sprinted 16 yards untouched into the end zone with 11:37 left in the game.

On a fourth-and-8 play on the drive, Tavares Bolden hit Donta Greene on a 9-yard pass that allowed the Rockets to maintain possession.

"I told the guys all week that us being 25th in the nation, they were going to play us hard, like a Big Ten school," Bolden said.

Taylor, the nation's eighth leading rusher coming into the game, was stymied much of the day, yet managed 132 yards and three touchdowns on 32 carries despite bruising a shoulder and missing part of the third quarter. He has 14 touchdowns this season.

Northern Illinois keyed on Taylor, stacking the line with as many as nine defenders.

"If they focus on me, we just go to other people, that's what is so good about our offense," Taylor said.

The Rockets went to their passing game early. Tavares Bolden threw two touchdowns in the first quarter and finished with 254 yards passing.

The Rockets, ninth in the nation against the run, shut down the Huskies' leading rusher, Thomas Hammock. He had just 10 yards on 10 carries after topping 100 yards in eight consecutive games.

"Nobody runs the ball consistently against them," said Northern Illinois coach Joe Novak. "We knew they were going to gang up on him."

Northern Illinois (2-2, 0-1) made it interesting when Lionel Hickenbottom intercepted Bolden's pass that went off Greene and took it 33 yards for a touchdown. That cut Toledo's lead to 27-17 with 13:32 to go in the third quarter.

Steve Azar's 25-yard field goal two minutes later brought the Huskies within a touchdown, but Northern Illinois couldn't get any closer.

Toledo struck quickly on three of its first four possessions before a conference-record crowd of 36,592. The previous record was 36,361 set last year when Indiana State met Western Michigan.

The Rockets' first two scoring drives lasted less than a minute.

Bolden hit wide-open tight end Chris Holmes for a 22-yard touchdown on the opening drive. Six minutes later, Manny Johnson took a short pass and turned it into a 63-yard touchdown. Johnson caught the ball on a quick slant and turned toward the middle of field, outrunning the defense.

Northern Illinois could do little on offense in the first half. The Huskies had just 31 yards until putting together a 69-yard drive in the final minute of the half.

Chris Finlen's 24-yard TD pass to P.J. Fleck cut the deficit to 27-10.