(NOTE: Appeared in the Baltimore Sun in 2002.)

Morgan St. feels at home, bounces NC A&T

Bears rush for 307 yards

QBs solid in road victory

October 13, 2002|By Tom Gillispie | SPECIAL TO THE SUN

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Winning anytime is good, Morgan State coach Donald Hill-Eley said with a grin. Quieting the North Carolina A&T band is even sweeter.

The Bears gained 307 yards on 46 rushes yesterday and beat the Aggies, 30-13, in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game.

It was the first time Morgan State (2-4, 1-2) has beaten A&T in Greensboro since 1978, but it was the Bears' second straight win over the Aggies.

"You want to give the fans a show, but you don't want to be part of the festivities," said Hill-Eley, whose Bears will be the homecoming opponent three times this year. "There's nothing worse than going into someone else's homecoming and lose while hearing the band play and watching everyone party."

Morgan State halfback T.J. Stallings rushed for 142 yards and opened the scoring with an 11-yard touchdown run.

Bear quarterbacks Bradshaw Littlejohn and LeJominick Washington had big games. Littlejohn, a 6-foot-3, 258-pound freshman, gained 85 yards on 11 carries. He also went 6-for-13 passing for 144 yards and had a 53-yard touchdown pass to William Sherman that made it 23-13 with 1:32 left. Washington, a 6-3, 205-pound junior, added 64 yards on six rushes and was 6-for-16 passing for 121 yards.

Sherman caught six passes for 111 yards and Vishan Shiancoe caught a 75-yard pass down to the A&T 5.

Jonathan Voroshilin kicked a 35-yard field goal that made it 10-6 with 18 seconds left in the first quarter.

For A&T (3-3, 1-1), Brad Hinton caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from Jason Battle and a 15-yarder from Jason Douglas. Cornelius Gary led the Aggies with 94 yards on 13 carries. Douglas was 14-for-26 passing for 183 yards while Battle was 3-for-10 for 62 yards.

"We got beat by a better football team," said A&T coach Bill Hayes. "There was no question that we couldn't stop the run and Morgan State made the key big plays when they had to have them.

"Anytime they run for 300 yards and pass for 200, it's going to be a tough day."

Stallings said the Bears believed they'd win.

"We weren't the underdogs," Stallings said. "We beat them last year, 52-42, in a shootout in Baltimore. We were on the high horse this time and we wanted to stay there."

The Aggies said they expected to win after Hinton scored his second touchdown to cut it to 16-13 with two minutes to play. But Washington hit his 53-yarder to Sherman when a defensive back lost a shoe. Thirteen seconds later, A&T tried a lateral on the kickoff return, and Larry Davis caught the ball as it caromed off the second Aggie return man.

"We thought we'd take over at that point," AT&T's Curtis Deloatch said. "We thought they'd go three [plays] and out, but we couldn't stop them."

Hayes said the Aggies didn't respond to his 45-minute pep talk on Thursday.

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