Devan James ran for 81 yards on 19 carries and scored on a 7 yd run in the 1st quarter.
Boxscore
Bear Shots
The Sporrtsgroove w/Mark Gray
BALTIMORE, Md. -- The Morgan State Bears got away with a lot today against the North Carolina A&T Aggies during homecoming at Hughes Stadium. The Bears survived four turnovers, an Aggie kickoff returned 104 yards for a touchdown that was called back for a block in the back, five Aggie possessions starting inside Bear territory and three FGs missed in a 7-6 victory over the Aggies.
The defense and special teams of Morgan State saved the game for them this afternoon. Morgan State stopped the Aggies on fourth down five times in the game. Two of those times occured on missed field goals of 32 and 38 yards by Aggie kicker Patrick Courtney.
MSU defensive back Darren McKhan said about the defense, “This is our job. Our job is just to help our offense out. With the pressure on the offense a little bit, things were kind of shaky for them, our job is to come in and resolve that for them. Calm it down and get the game back in order.”
The only scoring for Morgan State occurred with 24 seconds left in the first quarter when running back Devan James scampered seven yards into the end zone. The drive lasted five plays for 80 yards and was really the only positive thing on offense for Morgan State (4-1, 2-0 MEAC). James said about that play, “It was all on the offensive line and I just hit it.”
North Carolina A&T couldn't catch a break at any point of the game. One example took place in the third quarter where they recovered a punt that touched the hip of McKhan. Justin Ferrell recovered the ball at the MSU 11 with eight minutes left. Two plays later, Tony Coles bulled into the end zone from a yard out to cut the Aggie deficit to 7-6. However, the extra point was blocked by linebacker Fred Davis.
McKhan said, “I was mad about that. We had a miscommunication right there. But that's part of the game. Certain changes, but they scored off of that. But luckily enough, we blocked the extra point.”
On the Aggies next possession, McKhan quickly made up for his error when he intercepted Fears' throw at the Morgan State nine on a fourth down and 27 play 8:51 remaining in the fourth quarter. McKhan said, “That's what my teammates look forward to me doing. I not doing anything new or spectacular, I'm doing what my teammates expect me to do.”
Morgan State was held to only six first downs the whole game compared to 16 for North Carolina A&T (3-3, 1-2 MEAC). Aggie quarterback Carlton Fears was a handful early on for MSU; however, the Bears made some adjustments late and contained Fears late in the game.
MSU head coach Donald Hill-Eley said, “Defending Fears was a matter of watching how he lines up, watching who lines up with him. Well, it's tough to beat somebody with their own thing and vice versa. We're running Coach Lee's defense, they're running our old offense. So it was the same house on both sides of the field.”
Both defenses stepped up and put out their best efforts. McKhan said about today, “This game was like clash of the titans. We know Coach (Herbert) Parham and Coach (Alonzo) Lee coached together. They have similar coaching styles. But thank the Lord for the win.”
