BALTIMORE, Md. (October 25, 2008) ? Four turnovers, resulting in 17 points proved to be the difference as the Delaware State Hornets fell to the Morgan State Bears, 20-3, on Saturday, Oct. 25 at Hughes Stadium.
Held to a season-low 118 yards on the day the Hornets (3-4, 3-2 MEAC) suffered their second MEAC loss of the season. The win improves Morgan State's record to 5-3, 3-1 MEAC.
"The thing that happened in this game is what we predicted would happen between these two types of teams," said Head Coach Al Lavan. "The team that created the most turnovers would win the game. We are pretty much a ball-control team and to turn the ball over four times really affected us today. The defense for the most part played pretty darn good, despite giving up a play here and there. You're not going to play much better versus that caliber of running back (Devan James) and offensive line. We were not able to overcome the turnovers and to couple that with the fact that we seldom made a significant play on offense resulted in Morgan State winning the field position battle."
The Hornets rushed for 87 yards on 30 carries and threw for 31 yards. Quarterbacks Vashon Winton and Anthony Glaud combined for 5-of-15 passing, including three interceptions. On the ground, Vashon led all DSU players with 44 yards on 15 carries.
Defensively, DSU held Morgan State to 200 yards of total offense (second-best defensive production of the season for Delaware State). The Hornets limited James below his conference-leading 125 yards rushing-per-game to just 103 yards on the ground. James scored both of MSU's touchdowns on 26 carries. Linebacker Jackie Watkins led the way on defense for the Hornets tallying a career-high 12 tackles on the afternoon. The Woodbridge, Va., native also notched his second sack of the season, recording three tackles for loss versus the Bears.
"I wouldn't say that they (Morgan State) got the best of us," said Watkins. "We just didn't execute and make the tackles when we needed to. That escalated to big plays and they capitalized on that. We felt like we were doing a pretty good job on defense, containing James. We were taking away his cutback lanes."
On the team's opening drive, the Hornets got on the board to take an early lead. Winton used his feet to get the Hornets into the red zone, rushing for 34 yards on four carries. The drive was halted by a Morgan State pass deflection on third down, allowing kicker Riley Flickinger to cap off the nine-play, 40-yard drive with a 35-yard field goal that put Delaware State ahead, 3-0.
Morgan State responded. Late in the first quarter, MSU linebacker Troy Leftwich intercepted a Winton pass to give the Bears the ball at the DSU 27-yard line. The interception resulted in the Bear's first touchdown of the afternoon.
James scampered 26 yards down to the one-yard line where he would stumble into the end zone two plays later to give the Bears the 7-3 lead.
MSU extended its lead with a 27-yard field goal by James Meade. The score was set up following a fumbled punt by Delaware State's Zacharri Charles. The DSU wide receiver miss-played a Johnathan Skeete punt, giving Morgan State the ball at the Delaware State 17-yard line.
The Hornets headed into the locker room, trailing 10-3 at half. Morgan State held a slight edge in yardage heading into halftime, 79-73.
After a scoreless third quarter, Meade added his second field goal of the contest, connecting from 27 yards out to give the Bears a 13-3 lead. After receiving great field position following a short punt by Nick Lochner, the Bears drove 36 yards on eight plays to set up the field goal attempt.
Despite the 32-yard punt by Lochner, the Webster, N.Y., native finished the day averaging 41.2 yards-per-punt on a career-best eight punts, including a long of 58 yards and placing three punts inside the 20-yard line.
Morgan State scored their second touchdown of the game on a five-yard scamper by James to give the Bears a 20-3 lead, capping off a five-play, 33-yard drive, lasting 2:52. The drive was set up by the third interception of the game committed by DSU. Cornerback Darren Mckhan picked off a pass from Glaud at the Delaware State 33-yard line with seven minutes remaining in the game.
Unable to muster a comeback, Delaware State fell to the Bears for the first time since 2004.
The Hornets will return home to face South Carolina State on Saturday, November 1. Game time is slated for 1 p.m. The contest will be broadcast on ESPNU (tape delay).
