North Carolina Central lived with the humiliation of a homecoming loss to Delaware State for a full year, waiting for a chance at revenge.
The Eagles made the most of it, rolling to a 31-12 win over the Hornets in the MEAC opener for both teams.
Central snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to 3-5 on the season while Delaware State fell to 4-4.
The Hornets were gifted their only score when NCCU’s Amari Sifford intercepted a Jayden Sauray pass, then fumbled it back into DSU hands. On the next play Kyree Benton took a sweep 26 yards around the left side for a 6-0 Hornet lead.
That was their last time in charge as the Eagles battered the Hornets on the ground, rushing for 272 yards.
214 of those belonged to freshman running back Gino Addison, who scored on touchdowns of five and 16 yards.
Sophomore running back Zion Dobson scored the go-ahead touchdown on 4th and 1 from five yards out in the first quarter and quarterback Cobey Thompkins capped Central’s scoring with a 16-yard touchdown toss to tight end Luke Bracey.
North Carolina Central collected 427 yards of total offense, limiting Delaware State to 257 yards of offense. The Hornets got a rushing touchdown from quarterback Marqui Adams as time expired to make the score look a little better, but not by much.
NCCU has now won three straight games at Alumni Stadium, their last loss in Dover coming during the 2018 season. Delaware State has not beaten North Carolina Central in consecutive years since 1977-1978.
Well, congrats on Coach Oliver on getting revenge lick. I’m not surprised by DSU’S offensive woes in this game (offense has been suspect all season), but I didn’t expect a blow out.
It might be too late, but DSU needs to quickly find its offense identity to try to at least tie last season’s record of 8-4. The conference competition is officially harder after tonight.