The football programs from North Carolina A&T and Winston-Salem State University renewed their heated rivalry after a 14-year absence in the matchup that needed extra time to be decided.
The Aggies needed a 31-yard field goal from junior Andrew Brown to send the game into overtime and a 16-yard touchdown run from Wesley Graves before the Aggies were able to survive in with a 27-20 win.
WSSU comes away believing it deserves more of the Aggies’ attention for future games after giving their HBCU brethren to the east, a Division I-FCS institution, a bit of a scare.
The Aggies come away knowing they need to make some immediate improvements after nearly losing to a Division II opponent.
“We’ve got a lot to fix,” said A&T head coach Vincent Brown, who won for the first time at Truist Stadium as the Aggies head coach. “But as I said to our kids, enjoy the win because they’re hard to come by, and we will work on the things we need to do to get ready to beat Delaware.”
On the game’s third play, WSSU defensive back Zaahir Choen intercepted a pass from A&T sophomore Kevin White and returned it 21 yards to the Aggies 35-yard line. Four plays later, the Rams had the ball in the end zone on a 14-yard touchdown run from Timothy Ruff, which gave the Rams a 6-0 lead after WSSU kicker Gilberto Lorenzana missed the extra point.
The Aggies quickly gathered themselves after the early turnover led to a score. A 9-play, 66-yard touchdown drive ended with a 1-yard TD run from White followed Brown’s extra point gave the Aggies the lead. The scoring drive was the start of 17-straight points for NC A&T.
Brown’s 52-yard field goal tied a program record with two other Aggies. Yonnick Matthews connected on a 52-yard at Elon in 2003, and Noel Ruiz hit a game-winning 52-yarder against Elon in 2019. Brown is the first kicker in program history to make multiple 50-yard field goals.
“Andrew is one of the better kickers in the conference, and that was on display today in our confidence in him to produce points,” said Brown.
That would prove true late in the game as the Rams scored on a 37-yard touchdown run from Trevon Hester with 38 seconds remaining in the third quarter to put them up 17-13.
After WSSU’s Travon McClain blocked a 40-yard field goal attempt from Brown, the Rams took the lead, orchestrating a 9-play, 79-yard drive that ended with a 3-yard TD run from quarterback Dylin Lee to give WSSU a 20-17 advantage with 3:52 remaining in regulation.
The Aggies responded with 15 plays, eight of them runs, to put Brown in position to hit his 31-yarder to send the game into overtime before Graves broke through a wide-open hole on the right side to score and give the Aggies the lead.
The resilient Rams had one last shot in their efforts to keep their upset hopes alive. But on 4th-and-goal from the Aggies 4, Lee’s pass into the endzone toward Kaleb Washington fell incomplete.
“I want our team to be a resilient, composed team that doesn’t get too down on themselves,” said Brown. “I’ve seen a lot of maturity in our team from last season to where we are now because I personally did not see a lot of the bickering and finger-pointing that typically happens when you’re not performing up to expectations. The guys just kept playing and kept playing and kept playing until we got the win. And to me, that’s a sign of maturity.”
Courtesy: North Carolina A&T Athletics.
