MUNCIE, Indiana — Western Michigan outscored Ball State 28-7 in the second half, including 14-0 in the fourth quarter and the Broncos authored an improbable 42-38 comeback over the Cardinals at Scheumann Stadium on Saturday.

With the win, the Broncos even their overall record at 3-3, and their Mid-American Conference record at 1-1.

WMU trailed Ball State by a 31-14 mark after one half of play, but the Broncos never stopped rowing and came out firing in the second half.

The go-ahead score came with just 1:25 left in the game, when Daniel Braverman caught a swing pass from Zach Terrell and danced through tacklers for a 12-yard touchdown to go up 41-38. Andrew Haldeman nailed the extra point to set the score at 42 for the Broncos.

The Cardinals drove down the field on the ensuing possession and eventually got to first-and-goal on the Broncos’ 8-yard-line, but WMU stood tall at the end to complete the win.  Richard Ash recorded a key pass deflection on third down, and Jack Milas’ final pass of the game fell incomplete as the Broncos stole the win.

Jarvion Franklin rushed for 161 yards on 24 carries and three touchdowns to leap to 15 scores on the season; he entered the week as the country’s leading scorer as well as its top freshman rusher.

Braverman finished with a team-high 10 catches for 96 yards and two touchdowns, while Corey Davis had six receptions for a team-high 154 yards and a touchdown. Darius Phillips scored on a career-long 52-yard rush in the third quarter, and punter J. Schroeder provided a spark on special teams with a 43.8 yards per punt average and a season-long 74-yard punt that trapped the Cardinals on their own one-yard-line.

Justin Currie had a game-high 12 tackles, and Nathan Braster had a key sack of Milas on the Cardinals’ final drive of the game.

The Broncos were on a mission to start the third quarter, getting back on the scoreboard just three plays into the half. Phillips took a reverse pitch and sprinted down the left sideline, going out-of-bounds just before reaching the goal line. Franklin punched the ball on the very next play, plowing through the pile to cut the Cardinal lead to 31-21.

The next key play came in the Broncos’ second possession of the half, when Schroeder turned a three-and-out into an advantageous situation. Schroeder boomed a punt 74 yards all the way down to the BSU 1 where it was downed by a Bronco player and Ball State ultimately were forced into a three-and-out at their own seven-yard-line.

The punt traveled to just the BSU 49 and Terrell hooked up with Davis on a 26-yard pass on the first play of the possession to put the Broncos in striking distance.  Franklin pounded the ball on three straight carries and ended up in the end zone to make it 31-28.

The Cardinals countered with a KeVonn Mabon touchdown catch at the end of the third quarter, but Franklin busted out a 54-yard touchdown run with 7:25 remaining in the fourth quarter to again make it a three-point deficit at 38-35.

WMU trailed early on but struck back to tie the score in the first quarter, with Braverman doing the heavy lifting to punch the ball into the end zone. With a drive starting on their own 23, the Broncos moved quickly in advancing the ball down the field. Franklin pushed through the pile on a third-and-2 to move the chains for a Bronco first down at the 35-yard-line and again kept the drive alive with a three-yard rush on 3^rd-and-2 at the WMU 43.

Braverman toted the mail the rest of the way, hauling in a hard strike from Terrell and eluding a tackler on the far sideline before sprinting 52 yards for the score. Haldeman’s extra point tied the game at 7-7 with 29 seconds remaining in the quarter.

The Broncos’ second touchdown of the game came on their longest play from scrimmage of the year, as well as their second one-play drive of the season. Facing a first-and-10 from his own 25-yard-line, Terrell found Davis in the middle of the field for a completion in traffic; Davis slipped the tackle and found nothing but green between him and the goal line, scoring from 75 yards out to make it 28-14 with 3:17 to play in the half.

Dowagiac sophomore Brett Scanlon averaged 63.7 yards on his seven kickoffs for Western.