Morgan State records its first victory against Towson since 2003.
Boxscore
Bear Shots
BALTIMORE, Md. – The points were tough to come by for the Bears, but even tougher to come by for Towson – in the 22nd meeting of their bitter intracity rivalry.
But this time Morgan came out on the winning end, as a result of a “bend-but-don't break” defense and a couple of big plays on special teams on a rainy Saturday evening at Hughes Stadium.
Carlton Jackson engineered a 12-play, 86 yard drive that culminated with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Lamont Bryant in the second quarter to put the Bears ahead and the defense kept turning the Tigers back for a 12-9 victory.
Jackson, who finished 13-of-20 for 124 yards and a touchdown, had an efficient game.
Morgan State (2-1, 0-0 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) forced three turnovers by Towson (1-2), two of which were drive killing interceptions in the fourth quarter.
Towson's first turnover was when freshman quarterback Peter Athens hooked-up with wideout David Newsom for a 53-yard pass. Newsom was stripped by Richard Wilson at the 1-yardline and Towson's Tony Zaccarelli recovered it in the endzone for a touchdown.
But instead of the momentum shifting to the Tigers following the score, the Bears regained it on the ensuing point after attempt, when James Cole burst through the middle of the line and blocked the kick. The ball was scooped up by All-MEAC cornerback Darren McKhan who raced 102 yards to help Morgan trim the lead to 6-2 with 9:06 remaining in the first quarter.
Kemar Scarlett hit a 41-yard field in the second quarter put the Bears ahead 12-6 at the break and Towson's Jon Boyer recorded a 35-yard field goal midway through the 3rd quarter to cap all scoring for the rest of the game.
Towson accounted for 344 yards of total offense, including 196 yards on the ground, while the Bears finished with 161 yards and was limited to 33 rushing yards.
Tremayne Dameron paced the Tigers with 126 yards on 28 carries, while Athens completed 11-of-23 passes for 148 yards, including two interceptions.
Despite the yardage advantage, the Bears never allowed Towson to capitalize when it really counted.
The Bears defense was led by senior linebacker George Howard, the reigning MEAC Defensive Player of the Week, who followed up a 17 tackle performance last week, with a career-high 18 stops (9 solo) against the Tigers.
For Morgan State coach Donald Hill-Eley, it was the first win against Towson since 2003.
Hill was proud of the effort shown by the Bears. “I thought it was a good, hard fought game, “ said Hill. “Credit goes to our guys. They really played well in all three phases tonight.”
Towson made it interesting down the stretch when they had two late fourth quarter drives end abruptly when McKhan picked off Athens with 4:08 remaining and strong saftey Jody Ellis iced the ballgame with a pick in the final two minutes.
“ I think our defense really played well and they kept us in great position where we couldn't hurt ourselves,” Hill said.
Bear Bits
Nicholas Adams had a solid effort on special teams for the Bears. The redshirt-freshman averaged 38.4 yards on nine punts and had four inside the 20, one was downed on Towson's one yardline.
