Hampton beats South Carolina State to move within a victory of a return to the Division I-AA playoffs.
October 23, 2005
HAMPTON -- Déjà vu hit South Carolina State coach Buddy Pough like a shovel to his head. As Hampton University wide receiver Marquay McDaniel ran untouched toward the end zone late in the first half on Saturday, Pough remembered that his offense had beaten the defense on the same pass play in practice two days earlier.
This time the consequences were devastating. McDaniel's touchdown ignited the previously dormant offense just enough for the Pirates to rally from a 10-point deficit to a 14-10 victory in the showdown for first place in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
The No. 4 Pirates need only to win one of their final two conference games to earn the MEAC's automatic berth in the Division I-AA playoffs.
"This win is huge, because last year we beat them (52-36) but they still got (championship) rings," McDaniel said. "This year we don't want to be co-champions or whatever they call it. We're the best team in the MEAC."
Leading 10-0 late in the second quarter, it appeared the Bulldogs would control their own playoff destiny. Then lightning struck when reserve quarterback Antwan Smith entered the game for Hampton in place of ineffective starter Princeton Shepherd.
On his first snap, Smith passed 52 yards for a touchdown to McDaniel, who had broken wide open on a post pattern. That TD cut the Bulldogs' lead to 10-7 with 4:07 to play in the first half and prompted Pough's flashback.
"Our offense ran the same play and scored on a two-minute drill at practice on Thursday," he said. "When I saw that guy (McDaniel) head-and-shoulder fake to the outside and go back inside, I said, 'Oh you-know-what!'
"From that point on, we didn't play as effectively, especially on offense."
The Pirates' offensive momentum proved to be brief, but they used it to score the decisive touchdown in the waning moments of the first half. Smith began the next series at his own 32 by passing for 19 yards to Onrea Jones.
Alonzo Coleman and McDaniel pushed the Pirates deeper into Bulldog territory with runs of 10 yards apiece. Smith then hit Jones for 11 yards along the sideline before connecting with McDaniel on a crossing route for a 9-yard touchdown that made it 14-10 with 36.6 seconds to play in the first half.
"The offense and defense sort of feed off of each other, and that gave us a little boost," linebacker Justin Durant said of the offensive spurt. "But mostly we depend on ourselves on defense to play as hard as we can."
Good thing. While the offense sputtered in the second half, the defense recovered from its slow start to save the day.
The Bulldogs drove 81 yards on their first possession to take a 7-0 lead. DeShawn Baker's 18-yard run and Ron Darby's 23-yard gain on a double-reverse highlighted the drive, capped by Jonathan Woods' 8-yard TD run.
Quarterback Cleveland McCoy sprinted 12 yards on a draw, then passed for 16 yards to Kelley King on the Bulldogs' next series. That set up Stephen Grantham's 29-yard field goal that made it 10-0 before the game was 12 minutes old.
But the Bulldogs managed just five first downs over the next two quarters. Linebackers Durant (15 tackles) and Kensley Dougan (12 tackles) led the defensive charge, while defensive end Alden Blizzard (nine tackles) played his best game in a Hampton uniform.
It helped significantly that punter Cameron Muro, who averaged 50.2 yards on eight punts, put the Bulldogs in poor field position throughout. His last punt backed up the Bulldogs to their own 5 with 7:15 to play in the game.
Baker (22 carries, 106 yards) began a march toward the Hampton end zone with back-to-back runs of 18 and 16 yards. The Bulldogs drove to the Hampton 26, thanks to an illegal-substitution penalty on the Pirates' punt-receive team.
But the Pirates clinched the victory when linebacker Rudolph Foye sacked McCoy on fourth-and-2 with 1:27 to play. Then the Pirates ran out the clock to take control of the MEAC title race.
"We weren't playing up to their energy level at first," Durant said. "We turned it up.
S. Carolina St. 10 0 0 0 - 10
Hampton 0 14 0 0 - 14
First Quarter
SCS-Woods 8 run (Grantham kick), 9:13.
SCS-FG Grantham 29, 3:09.
Second Quarter
HU-McDaniel 52 pass from Smith (Paterini kick), 4:07.
HU-McDaniel 9 pass from Smith (Paterini kick), :36.
A-16,306.
SCS HU
First downs 18 16
Rushes-yards 59-269 38-134
Passing 52 151
Comp-Att-Int 8-24-1 12-24-0
Return yards 11 36
Punts-Avg. 9-38 8-50
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-2
Penalties-Yards 3-25 10-63
Time of possession 35:51 24:09
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-S. Carolina St., Baker 22-106, McCoy 17-92, Woods 17-49, Darby 1-23, Brandyburg 1-2, Burgess 1-(minus 3). Hampton, Coleman 19-101, Daniels 11-12, Shepherd 3-12, McDaniel 1-11, team 2-0, Smith 2-(minus 20).
PASSING-S. Carolina St., McCoy 8-23-1-52, team 0-1-0-0. Hampton, Smith 7-15-0-131, Shepherd 5-9-0-20.
RECEIVING-S. Carolina St., King 3-30, Burgess 3-5, Darby 1-16, Baker 1-1. Hampton, Jones 4-46, McDaniel 3-70, Lomax 2-35, Coleman 2-1, Daniels 1-(minus 1). «
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Sunday, October 23rd 2005 at 1:27PM
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