Bears Floor Florida A&M for Homecoming, 34-21 - Morgan State University Athletics

Box Score BALTIMORE, Md. -- What a difference a week makes.

When a football team can take care of the ball and force turnovers, a win is very much guaranteed. And that's what happened on a homecoming Saturday afternoon at Hughes Stadium.

The Morgan State Bears didn't turn the ball over and forced four Florida A&M turnovers in a 34-21 Homecoming victory against the Rattlers, ending an 11-game losing streak.

"It's been a long time," said Morgan State head coach Donald Hill-Eley about the victory. "I just feel excited for these young men. They've been working hard and it's been a long time and we needed to have some success to continue to move forward."

The win improved Hill's record to 10-2 in MSU Homecoming matchups.

Morgan State (1-5, 1-1 MEAC) got on the board first on a Seth Higgins one yard plunge into the endzone to cap a 12 play drive, giving the Bears a 7-0 lead with 8:39 left in the first quarter.

Higgins had a heck of a day running and passing. The junior quarterback ran 17 times for a career-high 102 yards and a touchdown, while completing 12 of 20 in the air for 144 yards and a touchdown.

"That's what it's all about," Higgins said about the turnover free game. "If you play football, you know that you can't turn the ball over if you want to win. Usually the team that takes care of the ball, doesn't fumble or throw interceptions, and does their job, usually wins. That's ball security. That's Football 101."

But the Rattlers (1-4, 0-1 MEAC) responded quickly with a four-play drive which ended in an 82-yard run by Al-Terek McBurse up the middle. The game was tied at seven with 6:53 remaining.

Morgan State answered again a couple plays after Deshaun Summers intercepted Fleming. Redshirt-freshman running back Lamont Brown III took it to the house from 24 yards out to help give the Bears a 14-7 lead with 3:03 left in the first quarter.

The only score of the second quarter came when Higgins threw a two-yard touchdown pass to Eme Akonawe in the right corner of the endzone with 4:57 remaining. That increased the Morgan State lead to 21-7, the Bears' biggest lead of the game.

However, a 21-yard field goal attempt by placekicker Chris Moller was blocked by FAMU linebacker Akil Blount and ran into the endzone by Darren Parker for an 89-yard touchdown. Varnadore's extra point cut the Morgan State lead to 21-14 with 6:09 left in the third quarter.

That could've thrown a huge monkey wrench into the evening, but the Bears came back with Moller converting a season-high 45-yard field goal with 2:05 remaining in the third quarter to extend the MSU advantage to 24-14.

FAMU quarterback Damien Fleming scampered and then connected with a 17-yard jump pass to Michael Ethridge with 12:32 left to cut the Bear advantage to 24-21.

Morgan State went on a 14-play drive which ended in a 23-yard field goal with 5:41 remaining. That extended the Bears lead to 27-21.

Fleming's pass on the next Florida A&M (drive was deflected and intercepted by Cody Acker and returned 19 yards for the touchdown, pushing the Bears' lead to 34-21 after the Moller kick with 4:41 left in the game.

Hill-Eley said about the play, "We tell the guys all the time. The game is normally a total of 160 plays. But if everybody makes their play, and you make your play, and Cody made his play, we have an opportunity to win because of it."

Acker said about the defensive effort this afternoon, "We've been talking about that all season,' said Acker. "At halftime, we came in and we said let's score in this game. Let's score and keep getting these turnovers. We know (Florida A&M) couldn't play with us, but we can't let them play with us. That's what we do."

Fleming drove down the field quickly and efficiently until his pass was tipped and intercepted by Andrew Mitchell at the Morgan State 19 yard line with 90 seconds left, effectively ending the Rattlers' afternoon.

Morgan State has a bye coming up next week. Then they hit the road on October 19 at North Carolina Central.

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