BALTIMORE, Md. — When it comes to making games interesting, the Morgan State Bears were sure to give the people their money’s worth at Hughes Stadium. The Bears held off Delaware State 20-17 in this in their 60th meeting in the series.
Even in the sometimes pouring rain this afternoon, the Bears took care of the football a lot better than they had earlier in the season, only turning the ball over once on a Chris Andrews fumble.
Andrews did do some damage, completing 16-of-31 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns. [lasso align=”right” cart=”y” identifier=”B00ERBN74Y” locale=”US” tag=”hbcusports-20″ ref=”amzn-morgan-state-riddell-replica-navy-mini-helmet-bear-head” type=”single” id=”71879″ link_id=”5019″]
“We did a lot better job of making sure we don’t have any turnovers,” said Andrews. “That was strickly my mistake on the fumble. [Jahad Neibauer] got a great hit on it. I have to protect the ball better like my coaches say. But other than that, we did a great job of protecting the ball.”
Morgan State (2-2, 2-0 MEAC) got on the board first on Andrews’ 12-yard touchdown pass to Amonta Poteat with 7:38 left in the first quarter. The extra point from Alex Raya was no good, giving MSU the 6-0 lead.
Delaware State (0-4, 0-1 MEAC) responded with a 13-play, 51-yard drive which was capped by a Mike Waters one yard touchdown run with 2:09 left. The extra point from Wisdom Nzidee was good, giving the Hornets a 7-6 lead.
The Hornets added to their lead with Nzidee nailing a 28-yard field goal, making it 10-6 with 12:35 left in the second quarter.
The Bears fought back when Andrews hooked up with Thomas Martin for a 25-yard touchdown pass with 24 seconds left in the second quarter. Dushon David ran in for the two-point conversion to give the Bears a 14-10 lead which would be the halftime score.
“We were grinding it out in the run game and right there before the half, we wanted to take the shot,” said MSU interim head coach Fred T. Farrier. “We got one to Thomas Martin. (Andrews) made a nice throw to the endzone. They played a defense that we felt like we had some opportunities to go over to the short side of the field. It was one of the better balls that Chris threw all day. Absolutely a big play for us that made a huge difference in the game.”
Morgan State extended the lead to 17-10 on Raya’s 35-yard field goal with 2:30 left. Early in the fourth quarter, Raya connected on a 38-yard field goal to extend the lead for the Bears to 20-10 with 11:17 left.
Delaware State made things interesting late in the fourth quarter when Daniel Epperson threw a six-yard touchdown pass to Aris Scott with 37.9 seconds left in regulation to help draw the Hornets within 20-17.
But the ensuing onsides kick failed for Delaware State and Andrews took a knee to seal the Bears’ 7th straight victory and the 8th of nine meetings over the Hornets.
The Bears hit the road for the next two games starting next Saturday night as they head to Savannah, Georgia to take on the Savannah State Tigers. Kickoff is at 7 pm.
Courtesy: Morgan State Athletics
