ATHENS, Ohio – Ohio limited Kent State to 217 yards and forced four turnovers to break its two-game losing streak to the Golden Flashes in a chilly defensive 17-10 battle at Peden Stadium on Saturday.

The Bobcats stopped the Golden Flashes’ last chance to drive for the win by forcing a four-and-out in the final two minutes of the game.

Ohio (4-1, 1-0 Mid-American Conference) totaled 391 yards of offense on 81 plays, but it did not produce a lot of points for all the yards it gained, getting only a pair of Tyler Tettleton touchdown passes to Ryan Boykin and LaVon Brazill.

It might not have been pretty, but especially after last year’s 28-6 regular season-ending loss that kept the Bobcats out of the MAC Championship Game, it was good enough.

“We had a chip on our shoulders this game, so we were trying to get that off our chest,” Brazill said. We really wanted to win and we did.”

The Ohio defense stood tough despite losing two starters early with both defensive tackle Neal Huynh and cornerback Omar Leftwich suffering injuries that are expected to keep them out at least a few weeks, if not for the season. Safety Xavier Hughes also left with a less serious injury.

Kent State quarterback Spencer Keith was just 15 of 35 passing and the Golden Flashes gained only 100 rushing yards on 32 attempts.

“It was a tough, physical football game,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “It is what we expected. With Kent State, that’s always the case. In some ways, there’s a little frustration, but our guys have been able to play well enough to get them at 4-1.”

Despite its struggles offensively, Kent State (1-4, 0-1 MAC) kept it close and put together a 13-play, 57-yard scoring drive that culminated with a 31-yard Freddy Cortez field goal to get within a touchdown with 5:42 remaining.

The Golden Flashes held their ground after the Bobcats reached their 23-yard line, backing them up with two straight plays that lost a total of 12 yards and forced a punt. Paul Hershey hung it high and the coverage downed the ball inside the 1-yard line, leaving Kent State exactly two minutes with one timeout to drive 99 yards.

Keith was forced to scramble out of bounds for no gain on first down and threw incomplete on second down. A 7-yard completion made it fourth-and-3, and Keith’s final pass was well off the mark.

“We kept subbing people in and out,” said safety Nathan Carpenter, who had a team-high 10 tackles, one interception and one sack. “We’ve got some good depth here at the DBs and corners and safeties and everyone stepped up and they did their jobs. … We were confident and fortunately we went out there and made the plays on the field.”

After taking a 10-7 lead to the locker room, Ohio went up by two scores with a 13-play scoring drive late in the third quarter. The Bobcats converted two third downs and one fourth down and scored on third down on a 7-yard swing pass from Tettleton to Boykin in which the running back took ran over a defender along the sideline to reach the end zone.

“Basically if one of the linebackers blitzes, then Tyler Tettleton is going to throw me the ball,” Boykin said. “They blitzed, and the corner stayed out there and I made the catch. As I was heading to the goal line, I wasn’t going to let him stop me.”

The Golden Flashes lost a fumble on their first play of the ensuing possession, but their defense came through with a sack that pushed the Bobcats out of field goal range.

Kent State moved the ball to just across midfield early in the fourth quarter, but that drive was halted by a holding penalty and a sack, and then punter Matt Rinehart fumbled the snap and was tackled by A.J. Grady for a 10-yard loss.

Ohio failed to take advantage of the good field position, though, and a holding penalty pushed it back enough that Matt Weller’s 46-yard field goal try into the wind came up short.

The Golden Flashes blocked a Weller field goal try and a Hershey punt in the first quarter, but Kent State missed out on its opportunities in the scoreless first period, throwing a pair of picks.

Weller made a 43-yard field goal with 11:45 remaining in the first half for the game’s first points, but the Bobcats’ only turnover, a Tettleton fumble, set up the Golden Flashes’ only touchdown when they took possession at Ohio’s 25-yard line. Keith scored on a 1-yard run for a 7-3 Kent State lead.

Jerry Gross had a 40-yard kick return, though, that helped the Bobcats regain the lead for good on the next possession. On third and goal from the 4, Brazill went up over a defender to bring in a touchdown reception in the corner of the end zone.

Brazill had eight catches for 102 yards. Tettleton was 28 of 42 for 276 yards but was not able to complete his team’s final possession because of a deep leg bruise.

Boykin, who got his second straight start for the injured Dante Harden, gained 72 yards on 22 carries and also caught eight passes for 47 more yards.

Defensively, Noah Keller matched Carpenter’s 10 tackles and had three for loss. Gerald Moore and Josh Kristoff had the other interceptions.

“It was a good, physical football game,” Solich said. “Both teams gave up yards grudgingly. Obviously, we were fortunate in creating some turnovers.”

C.J. Malauulu had 12 tackles, including four for loss, a sack and a forced fumble, to lead Kent State’s defense.

Ohio travels to Buffalo for a game at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.