Sophomore RB David Brown paced the Bears with a season-high 128 yards on 16 carries.
Boxscore
NORFOLK, Va. - Morgan State matched Norfolk State punch for punch, before falling 37-25, Saturday afternoon at NSU's William “Dick” Price Stadium.
Spartan quarterback Chris Walley passed for season highs of 305 yards and four touchdowns and set a single-game school record by completing 20-of-22 passes in the process, helping the Spartans dropped Morgan State for the fourth straight time.
MSU fell to 4-5 overall, 3-3 in the MEAC, while the Spartans improved to 4-5 (3-4).
“Overall it was a bad game,” said MSU head coach Donald Hill-Eley. “Defensively, we just didn't stop them and they didn't punt all day. Offensively, we probably could've had more scores in the red zone. It just wasn't our day.”
MSU's redshirt freshman quarterback Delonte Williams completed 14-of-29 passes for 142 yards, including a touchdown and an interception late in the game to help seal the victory for the Spartans.
Sophomore running back David Brown recorded his second consecutive 100-yard game by finishing with a game-high 128 yards on 16 carries.
Both teams moved the ball at will early, but the teams traded field goals as MSU's Kemar Scarlett hit two in the first quarter and Ryan Estep one as MSU took a 6-3 lead. After Scarlett's second field goal gave the Bears the lead, Walley capped a 10-play, 74-yard drive with a 10-yard TD pass to sophomore Reggie Garrett with 4 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Spartans scored the only touchdown of the second quarter when Walley hit Nigel McCowan on a 45-yard TD pass with 3:47 left before the half. Scarlett would add another field goal, his fourth of the half, on the last play of the quarter to bring MSU within 20-12.
Walley, who completed his first 12 passes, stayed hot with a 3-yard TD pass to tight end Sherron Childress to cap NSU's first possession of the second half. The Bears had the answer, though, when Williams found Winfred Diggs on a 7-yard scoring strike with 6:25 left in the third quarter to bring MSU within 27-19.
Diggs finished a game-high eight receptions for 103 yards.
Estep connected from 33 yards out to stretch NSU's lead to 30-19 midway through the fourth quarter, but the Bears closed the gap to 30-25 on a 1-yard TD run by Jephte Cherenfant with 5:13 left in the game.
The close gap didn't last long.
On the ensuing possession, the Spartans were faced with a 3rd-and-8 from their own 36. But Walley hit Donovan Cotton in the flat, and Cotton zig-zagged through the MSU defense for a 64-yard touchdown play, thwarting MSU's comeback rally.
The teams combined for almost 800 yards of total offense. The Bears posted 334 total yards, while NSU totaled 453 yards of offense and did not punt in the game.
Junior safety Reshaude Miller led the Bears with nine tackles, while defensive end Bakari Smith posted a season-high eight stops and sophomore linebacker Richard Ndubueze added his second interception of the season.
Morgan State, which has lost back-to-back games, will face the MEAC defending champs of South Carolina State on Thursday night in an ESPNU televised matchup at Hughes Stadium.
Said Hill, “We have very short week, so we'll have to fix our problems real fast.
