BEARS TOPPED BY FLAMES, 38-10
Senior wideout Chris Flowers

BEARS TOPPED BY FLAMES, 38-10

9/14/2013 10:23:00 PM

Box Score

Boxscore

LYNCHBURG, Va. – Morgan State fell to Liberty, 38-10 on Saturday night during the Flames' Hall of Fame game at Williams Stadium before a home-opener crowd of 15,488. The Flames (2-1) rolled up 431 total yards of offense and scored five rushing touchdowns.

MSU redshirt freshman Moses Skillon made his starting debut against the Flames, completing just 3 of 11 passes for 28 yards, but he led the Bears ground attack with 90 yards.  Robert Council finished with 14 yards on eight carries.

Morgan State's (0-3) offense was held to a season-low 171 total yards.

The junior running back duo of Desmond Rice and Clifton Richardson led the Flames. Rice had 97 yards on nine carries and scored three touchdowns, while Richardson added 86 yards and a pair of touchdowns for the Flames, who posted their second straight win and improved its series record against the Bears to 3-1 since 1995.

Redshirt-sophomore quarterback Josh Woodrum had an efficient night for Liberty by completing 9 of 15 passes for 101 yards, including 42 rushing yards.

Liberty took a 14-0 lead after its first two possessions of the first quarter. Desmond Rice scored on Liberty's first drive of the game when raced in for a 14 yard TD run. On their second possession, the Flames capped a 10 play 71-yard drive when Clifton Richardson took a pitch and raced just out of the reach of defensive end Micale Smith-Murray for a score.

The Bears answered with the help of a 30-yard keeper by Skillon that was part of a 53-yard drive capped by a 35-yard field goal by Chris Moller. It was Moller's first career field goal and it trimmed the lead to 14-3 with 12:04 left in the first half.

Josh Washburn engineered Flames' response midway in the 2nd quarter. Following a sack by MSU defensive end Heleaince Gates, Washburn scrambled on a 3rd down and 18 and picked up a first down at the Bears 9 yard line. One play later, Rice took an inside handoff untouched to paydirt to extend Liberty's lead to 21-3.  Richardson added another score just before halftime, this time a 3-yarder, to make it 28-3.

Liberty's first punt of the game was at the 8:30 mark of the 3rd quarter. It ended up resulting in disaster for the Bears, when Andrew King muffed the return, and Liberty's D.J. Abnar recovered the ball. Five plays later, Liberty extended its lead when Rice took a pitch sweep 20-yards for a touchdown.

Liberty added to its lead when John Lunsford hit a 40-yard field goal to push the lead to 38-3 with 10:23 left to play in the game.

Skillon led a 14 play, 75-yard drive that was finished with a 4-yard touchdown run by redshirt freshman Herb Walker with 2:39 left to go.

Walker finished the night with 34 yards on 10 carries.

"With the QB situation, we're trying to get through these non-conference games so we can find the guys that we can hang our hats on -- so that's why you see such a variety of guys playing," said Hill.

"We're going into every game to win, but we're trying to use a new offense, new defense, new special teams and we're trying to use these four games that we have away as more of a preseason. We're trying to get guys to come together – learning who we are, what we are, what we can do, what we can't do and gaining some continuity."

The Bears hit the road once again for their fourth straight to start the year when they matchup against Western Kentucky. Morgan State, which has a nine-game losing streak dating back to last season, will be in search of their first victory.

Notes:

Moses Skillon had a 30-yard run – it was the longest of his career

Darien Irby made a touchdown saving tackle when he tracked down Clifton Richardson on a 38-yard run

Joe Rankin recorded his second interception of the season when he stepped in front of a pass by Josh Woodrum  – it was the 12th pick of his career

MSU's defense was led by Cody Acker who finished the game with 12 tackles. It was his third straight double-digit tackling performance
 
Lawrence Forbes had a solid outing for the Bears, he averaged 52.0 yards on five punts, including a 78-yard long and two punts inside the 20
 
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