Morgan State bounced back from a disheartening loss against Delaware State and accomplished something that hasn’t happened since 1994.

The Bears came away with a 14-12 victory against Florida A&M at Hughes Stadium in front of a crowd of 3,478. The win marked Morgan State’s first in over a decade against Florida A&M, snapping the Rattlers 11-game win streak against the Bears. The win also kept the Bears in third place in the MEAC.

Trailing 14-12 late in the 4th quarter, Florida A&M had a chance to take the lead on a 17-yard field goal attempt by Wesley Taylor. MSU head coach Donald Hill-Eley called for a timeout to “freeze” Taylor, and it apparently worked. Taylor’s field goal sailed wide right.

Florida A&M jumped out to an early 9-0 lead in the 1st quarter. After Morgan’s first drive stalled deep in its own territory, Thomas Beese kicked a 32-yard punt that was returned by Gregory Clark to the Morgan 30. Taylor would go on to kick a 33-yard field goal with 9:36 left in the 1st quarter to put the Rattlers on the scoreboard.

The Rattlers started its next drive just inside Morgan territory and Leon Camel conducted a 5-play, 48 yard scoring drive capped by a 24-yard touchdown run by Phillip Sylvester. Taylor missed the extra point attempt and led 9-0.

Sylvester led the Rattlers on the ground with 18 carries for a game-high 71 yards.

The Bears started to get into an offensive rhythm in the 2nd quarter behind the play of their two quarterbacks Byron Selby and Mario Melton.

Melton helped orchestrate a long drive that took over 5 minutes off the clock and gave the Bears 1st and goal from the Rattlers’ 4. Florida A&M’s defense held on three consecutive run plays, and Melton’s quarterback sneak on 4th and goal from the 1 was stuffed by Lymon Reed, Carlos Rolle and a host of Rattler defenders.

The Bears’ next drive was led by Selby. The senior rushed for 23 yards on the first two plays of the drive and threw a strike to Robert Surratt for a 33-yard completion to the Rattlers’ 10 yard line. On the next play, Chad Simpson ran off-tackle for a 10-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 9-7 with 5:01 left before halftime.

Simpson finished the game with 12 carries for 63 yards and has accounted for over 1,000 yards for the season. The MEAC’s leading rusher has recorded 1,056 yards and has 12 touchdowns this season.

Florida A&M was the first to get on the scoreboard in the 2nd half. Camel and Sylvester had two big 3rd down runs to help set up a booming 45-yard field goal by Taylor to give the Rattlers a 12-7 lead with 4:02 left in the 3rd quarter.

Morgan State scored the final points of the game when Selby and Melton combined to put together a 9-play, 68 yard drive. The drive was capped by a 9-yard fade pass from Selby to Roderick Wolfe. The extra point by James Meade gave the Bears a 14-12 advantage.

Selby completed 7-of-9 passes for 84 yards, while Melton finished 4-of-9 for 29 yards.

On the ensuing possession, Rattler quarterback Eddie Battle connected with Jarvis Funderburke on a 19-yard post pass to move the ball to the Bears 38. Following a warning by the referees for Morgan State’s band not to play during the Rattlers’ offensive possession, on 2nd and 13 from the Bears’ 41 the Bears were called for a 15-yard penalty. The band had continued to play after the Rattlers broke the huddle and the call gave Florida A&M the ball on the Bears’ 26.

Anthony Edwards took the next four carries down to the Bears’ 4 and appeared poised to take the lead. On 3rd and goal from the 8, following a false start by the Rattlers, Battle took a quarterback keeper off the right side and looked as though he would hit paydirt, but senior linebacker Kofi Nkrumah made a “shoe-string” tackle at the 1 yard line, setting up Taylor’s 17-yard field goal miss.

Nkrumah led the Bears with a game-high 13 tackles (6 solo) and a sack, while Lamar West added 10 tackles and a sack, and Chris Williams chipped in seven tackles.

The Rattlers had 246 total yards on offense, compared to 236 for Morgan State.

Florida A&M still had an opportunity to win the game in the final two minutes with the ball on the Bears' 44-yard line, but Morgan State stiffened and forced the Rattlers to turn the ball over on downs.