Morgan State University Athletics

It was the Bears’ first win against Towson since 1999.

Coach Donald Hill-Eley’s Bears got off to a sluggish start in the first half as they failed to establish any offensive rhythm. 

Towson capitalized by scoring on its first two drives.  The Tigers’ first score came when Jason Amer hooked up with Mikal Lundy on a 36-yard touchdown pass with 4:56 remaining in the first quarter. In its next possession they marched 68 yards in 14 plays capped by a Stephan Toth 20-yard field goal. 

MSU headed into the intermission trailing 10-0.

The Bears came out of the break searching for a spark.  That spark came off the foot of senior All-MEAC kicker Jon Voroshilin.  On the first play of the half, Voroshilin took the Tigers by surprise by squibbing and recovering his own onside kick on Morgan’s 46 yard line.

“In the first half we were a little tense so we needed to settle down,” said Hill.  “Once we got the onside kick we felt we would be able to regain the momentum and play our brand of football.”

MSU’s offense took to the field and began to click almost immediately.

The Bears got big running plays from tailback William DeShazo and quarterback LeJominick Washington to put the Bears in scoring position on the goal line.  Littlejohn checked in for Washington and plowed his way to paydirt for Morgan’s first touchdown of the night.  Voroshilin’s extra point made the score 10-7.
Morgan’s defense turned up the pressure on Towson’s next possession.  With the ball deep on Towson’s 14, All-MEAC linebacker Albert Gamble broke through the Tigers’ protection and exploded into Jason Amer causing him to fumble.  The ball was recovered by TU’s Jason Gunning on Towson’s 1. 

Two plays later the Tigers were forced to punt from deep within its own endzone, when Choo Choo Davis ended up blocking Steve Bulcavage’s punt out of the back of the end zone for a safety.  The Bears trailed 10-9 at the end of the 3^rd quarter.

The Bears took its first lead of the game when a roughing the kicker call helped set-up a Voroshilin 28-yard field goal at the 10:00 mark of the 4^th quarter.

 Towson answered with a scoring drive of its own as Lundy ripped off a 17 yard TD run to give the Tigers a 16-12 advantage with 6:27 to go in the game.

 With the game in the balance Washington helped drive the ball to the Morgan 43, one yard shy of a crucial Bear first down.  Once again, Littlejohn was sent in for a short yardage play, this time on a 4^th and 1.  "The Big Show" turned a simple quarterback draw into a 57-yard game-winning touchdown as he sprinted through the middle of Towson’s defense to the endzone.  Following an ineligible player downfield penalty, Voroshilin was forced to kick the extra point from 41-yards away.  He stepped up and nailed it solidifying Morgan’s first season-opener win since 1993, when the Bears defeated Charleston Southern 54-20.

The quarterback tandem of Washington and Littlejohn worked like a charm for the Bears.  Washington completed 5 of 10 passes for 75 yards and gained 48 on the ground.  Littlejohn finished with a game-high 113 yards on 11 carries with 2 touchdowns.

Special teams play was positive. Voroshilin delivered an impressive debut, averaging 37.5 yards on 4 punts, including a 43-yarder.

Sophomore tight end Chris Cash paced the Bears' receiving corp by recording a career-high 4 catches for 60 yards.

Carlos Watts and Albert Gamble led a much-improved defensive unit.  Watts finished with a game-high 11 tackles and a sack.  Gamble helped create havoc throughout the game as he collected 5 tackles, including a game-high 3 sacks and a forced fumble.  Defensive tackle Sekou Goings had a busy night battling in the trenches by recording 5 tackles, 4 for losses, 2 sacks and forced a fumble.

Defensively, Morgan was pesky all night as they held Towson to just 46 rushing yards, well below the Tigers average of 159.5.

The Bears will be back in action next Saturday when they travel to Tallahassee, FL to take on the Rattlers of Florida A&M (0-1).