Missing two of its top players for most of the game, Morgan State needed its best effort of the season to upset No. 15 Delaware State. It didn?t even come close.
Playing without leading tackler Jerell Guyton and getting only five snaps from leading rusher Chad Simpson, Morgan State couldn?t overcome five turnovers and fell to Delaware State, 25-17, Saturday afternoon in front of 5,446 fans at Alumni Stadium.
Morgan State had a chance to tie the game with the ball at its own 20-yard line with 48 seconds left, but could get no further than its own 48 when time expired.
“I have to find a way to pull these guys together,” Morgan coach Hill-Eley said after the loss. “They?ll get over it, they are a good group of young men.”
Morgan State (4-4, 3-2 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) was led by quarterback Byron Selby, who completed 7-of-13 passes for 113 yards, but it wasn?t enough to upset Delaware State (6-1, 5-0) on homecoming day in Dover. With the loss, the Bears hope of a berth in the 16-team Football Championship Subdivision Playoff and their first league title since 1979 were all but dashed.
Delaware State opened the scoring 1:20 into the game when quarterback Vashon Winton found receiver Shaheer McBride from 6-yards away on a fade route in the far corner of the end zone to give the Hornets a 7-0 lead.
Morgan State would respond by scoring the next ten points of the game. The Bears first got on the board when James Meade made a 36-yard field goal. On its next possession, Morgan State took a 10-7 lead when quarterback Mario Melton, who?s alternating every two series with starter Byron Selby, took the snap under center one yard forward into the end zone on a quarterback sneak, for the touchdown.
The Hornets would tie the score at 10 when kicker Peter Gaertner made a 42-yard field goal with 3:02 remaining before halftime.
Gaertner would give Delaware State the lead back when he connected on a 45-yard field goal with 4:26 left in the third quarter.
But it would only take the Bears four plays to answer. On third down, running Devan James took a screen pass 64 yards to the Hornet?s four-yard line, and on the next play running back Courtney Anderson would walk into the end zone for a 17-13 lead.
Delaware State returned the ensuing kickoff to Morgan State?s 34-yard line and drove as deep as the Bear?s four-yard line, but wound up settling for a 35-yard Gaertner field goal, cutting the deficit to 17-16 on the last play of the third quarter.
Despite not getting into the end zone, running back Kareem Jones was a steady force for the Hornets offense the entire game, rushing for 122 yards on 28 carries.
Morgan State appeared to score a touchdown on its ensuing possession, but officials ruled that Anderson lost control of the football diving into the end zone. Safety Akeem Green scooped up the ball in the back of the end zone and raced 100 yards down the sideline for a touchdown and a 22-17 lead with 9:11 left in the game.
Hill-Eley said that he saw one official raise his hands for a touchdown, and believed that Anderson actually went into the end zone untouched before he lost the ball.
“I?ve never seen it where you fumble when you?re in the end zone,” Hill-Eley said. ” We need to invest in the technology [such as instant replay] to take the man out of the game.”
Simpson ended the game with two rushes for minus-1 yard and one reception for nine yards.
A 43-yard field goal from Gaertner capped the scoring at 25-17 with 4:13 remaining.
“It?s a hell of a way to [effect] the game,” Hill-Eley said. ” I?m sick and tired of being in these situations.”
