RB Craig Nelson rushed for career-high 136 yards and had 3 touchdowns.
Boxscore
Morgan State head coach Donald Hill-Eley placed another notch in his belt as the Bears knocked off Norfolk State, 43-34, in a shootout at Hughes Stadium in front of 4,254 fans.
The victory gave Morgan State its second straight winning season. The Bears finished 6-5 overall and posted its first back-to-back winning seasons since 1970-71. It was also Morgan’s first win against Norfolk State since 1989, breaking the Spartans' seven-game winning streak against the Bears.
Fans in attendance saw an action-packed game, as both teams combined for nearly 1,000 yards of total offense and scored a total of 77 points.
The Bears (4-3 MEAC) seemed to save its best for last as they sliced through the Spartans’ defense for 504 yards of total offense. It was Morgan’s best offensive performance all season.
On the flip side, Norfolk State’s (1-11, 0-7 MEAC) offense also had an outstanding day as they posted 436 total yards of offense.
Morgan had little trouble getting on the board in the first half. Freshman tailback Craig Nelson ran for a career-high 136 yards and three touchdowns to help give Morgan State a commanding 28-14 lead at halftime.
Norfolk State’s offense stepped-up up in the second half, as Spartan quarterback Dontrell Leonard led his team down the field and fullback Tyrone Hall plowed in for back-to-back touchdowns to knot the game, 28-28, midway through the 3rd quarter.
Leonard had a remarkable day as he connected on 23-of-43 passes for 439 yards. Wideout Howard Gilmore set a school-record by hauling in 13 catches for 305 yards, while Darryl Johnson had 6 receptions for 105 yards.
The Bears got back on the board when quarterback LeJominick Washington found Christian Sweat leaking out of the backfield for a 61-yard touchdown to push the lead to 35-28 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
Leonard scored on a quarterback sneak midway through the 4th quarter, but the extra point by Antonio Gomez sailed wide left as the Bears clung to a 35-34 lead. On Morgan’s ensuing drive the Bears were faced with a 4th and 1 from the Spartan 49-yard and Hill-Eley sent in the punt team to the dismay of the Bear fans.
However, Morgan’s coach had called for a fake punt and it worked like a charm. The snap went directly to up-back Donrico Lewis, who sprinted through a massive hole in the line for a 42-yard gain down to the Spartan 7-yard line.
Morgan scored on the following play as Washington ran for a 7-yard touchdown with 3:19 remaining in the game. All-MEAC kicker Jon Voroshilin lined up for the extra point, but the snap was bad and holder Jorge Pena picked it up, rolled right, and threw to freshman tight end Camaro Henson who squeaked into the endzone for the two-point conversion.
Washington completed 4-of-14 passes for 98 yards with a touchdown, and Bradshaw Littlejohn was 2-of-4 passes for 95 yards, including a 70 yard TD bomb to wideout Kelvin Dickens.
Despite Morgan’s troubles stopping the Spartans' air attack, the Bears did hold Norfolk State to minus-3 yards rushing. The Bears sacked Leonard five times.
Senior All-MEAC linebacker Albert Gamble, playing in his last game as a Bear, had 7 tackles and 2 sacks. Gamble completed the season with 11 sacks and was just four sacks shy of breaking the school single-season sack record set by James Dozier (14.5) during the 1990 season.
Shannon Maynard finished with a team-high 9 tackles (5 solo) and Sam Massey and Shaun Chappell each had an interception.
Norfolk’s defense was led by standout linebacker Kevin Talley. Talley recorded 14 tackles (7 solo) and set a NCAA (all levels) single-season record for tackles by finishing the season with 194 tackles.
NOTE: In just two seasons head coach Donald Hill-Eley has recorded the most victories since 1980 when Clarence Thomas completed his career with a 17-15-1 overall record.
