Dover, Del. (Nov. 23, 2013) --- The Delaware State football team was less than a minute away from a second straight winning season.
Morgan State quarterback Seth Higgins scored the game-winning touchdown on a four-yard run with 46 seconds left to play to give the Bears a 31-26 win over Delaware State in the season finale for both teams at Alumni Stadium this afternoon.
The Hornets drove to Morgan State's 44-yard line on the final possession of the game. Delaware State ran its final play with three seconds left, but Cory Murphy's pass was incomplete in the endzone.
There were four lead changes in the fourth quarter.
The Hornets tied the game at 25-25 on a nine-yard pass from Murphy (sr.) to running back Malcolm Williams (jr.) to cap off a 14-play, 83-yard drive with 4:49 left in the game. Murphy completed six-of-10 passes for 75 yards during the drive. Mitchell Ward's extra point kick gave the Hornets a 26-25 lead.
Morgan State began its game-winning touchdown drive at its 43-yard line after a short kickoff by the Hornets. Higgins completed a 19-yard pass to Grayling Harrison to the DSU 36. Three plays later, Higgins rushed for 15 yards to the Hornets' 13. On the touchdown run, Higgins took the shotgun snap and ran left for the score. The Bears attempted to kick the extra point after the touchdowns, but a low snap forced holder Lawrence Forbes into an unsuccessful run.
Morgan State scored first with a touchdown on the opening possession of the game. Running back Lamont Brown capped off the 10-play, 75-yard drive with a 32-yard touchdown run on a fourth-down-and three play with 9:29 left in the first quarter.
Delaware State got on the board early in the second quarter. The Hornets marched 90 yards on 14 plays, capped off by a one-yard touchdown run by Malcolm Williams. Murphy completed six passes for 59 yards during the march. DSU was also aided by a roughing the punter penalty against the Bears. Mitchell Ward's extra point kick was blocked, leaving the Hornets behind 7-6 with 12:26 left in the second quarter.
Morgan State led 10-6 when DSU used a big play to take its first lead in the third quarter.
Murphy hooked up wide receiver Robert King for a 59-yard touchdown to give the Hornets a 12-10 lead with 13:01 left in the third quarter. King caught the pass around the Morgan State 40-yard line before breaking a tackle and sprinting ahead of two defenders for his first collegiate touchdown. Ward's extra point kick gave the Hornets a 13-10 lead.
Morgan State regained the lead, 17-13, on a two-yard touchdown run by Brown with 4:00 left in the third quarter.
The Hornets struck again on a big play to take back the lead. Murphy found Milton Williams III open in the middle of the field, and Williams ran the rest of the way to complete a 72-yard scoring pass on the first play of the fourth quarter. It was the longest play of the season for the Hornets. The extra point kick was blocked by the Bears to keep the DSU lead at 19-17 with 14:49 left in the game.
Murphy completed 30-of-53 passes for a career-high 379 yards, the fourth-best single-game total in team history.
Williams III (jr.) had nine catches for a career-best 179 yards and a touchdown, marking the 10th-best single-game receiving yards total in school history.
Murphy completed 205-of-369 passes (55.6%) for 2307 yards and 13 touchdowns in his lone season as the Hornets' starting quarterback, while Williams finished the season with 58 catches for 888 yards and five touchdowns.
Delaware State's Rodney Gunter led all players with a career-high 10 tackles, including eight solo stops. Terrick Colton had nine tackles for the Hornets.
Delaware State finished the 2013 season with a 5-6 overall record and was 5-3 in the MEAC for the second straight year.
Morgan State runnningback Lamont Brown rushed for a game-high 132 yards and two touchdowns. Higgins ran for 117 yards and a score.
The Bears rushed for 285 yards in the contest.
Morgan State closed out the season at 5-7 overall and 5-3 in the MEAC.
