Howard 14, Morgan State 7
N.C. Central 55, Delaware State 14
S.C. State 44, Norfolk State 17
Howard 14, Morgan State 7
The Howard University Bison are Celebration Bowl bound claiming the 2023 MEAC Football Regular Season Title after defeating the Bears of Morgan State 14-7 in Washington, D.C.
The Bison found the first score of the game in the opening quarter as Jarett Hunter ran the ball in on an 8-yard play to go up 7-0 after the PAT was good. Both teams were held scoreless in the second quarter as the score sat where it was heading into the break.
Both teams found a scoring drive in the third quarter with Howard scoring first taking a 14-0 lead with 9:30 remaining in the third. Quarterback Quinton Williams ran for 34-yards for the score while Dylan West converted his second point-after attempt. The Bears found their way onto the scoreboard with less than two minutes remaining in the quarter after freshman quarterback Tahj Smith completed a 28-yard pass to Treveyon Pratt. That was the last of the scoring as neither team found the back of the endzone in the fourth as Howard claimed the 14-7 win.
Howard quarterback Williams was 12-of-22 on passing attempts for 143 yards with a long of 21 yards. He was sacked four times showing that the Bears defense was playing aggressive blitz football. Williams also ran 10 times for 36 total yards with a touchdown. Bison wide receiver Kasey Hawthorne caught four passes from Williams for 52 yards and a long of 19 yards. Running back Jarett Hunter rushed 20 times for 108 total yards and one TD.
On the Bears side of the football, freshman quarterback Smith threw 144 yards completing 9-of-22 passing attempts. His longest throw was 43 yards, and he had the 28-yard touchdown pass. Anthony James Jr., led Morgan State’s receiving corps with 51 yards on four catches while MSU running back J.J. Davis ran 12 times for 74 total yards.
BOX SCORE | RECAP
S.C. State 44, Norfolk State 17
The Dean of MEAC football can ride off into the sunset with a win in tow and a winning MEAC season as his legacy at South Carolina State. Oliver ‘Buddy’ Pough, head coach of South Carolina State, announced his retirement after 22 years coaching the Bulldogs prior to the start of the 2023 season. And after the 44-17 victory over Norfolk State he can close this chapter with a smile on his face. The Bulldogs came into Norfolk and ruined the Spartans senior day defeating NSU 44-17.
Norfolk State started the game off with the first scoring drive ending on a 33-yard field goal from Grandin Wilcox. South Carolina State closed out the first quarter with a touchdown just after the clock hit four minutes. SCSU running back Josh Shaw ran into the endzone on a 21-yard play giving the Bulldogs the 7-3 lead heading into the second quarter.
S.C. State took an 11-point lead, 14-3, with 12:42 remaining in the second quarter after Tyler Smith ran for 21 yards into the endzone and Gavyn Zimmerman converted the point-after kick. Neither team scored the remainder of the quarter as the score sat at 14-3 heading into halftime.
S.C. State took off in the third quarter scoring three touchdowns and two point after attempts to pull away from Norfolk State 34-3. Quarterback Corey Fields, Jr., threw two touchdown passes, both to Jordan Smith, the first to start the scoring drive and the second to end the Bulldog scoring drive. Sandwiched between the two was a rushing TD from Fields. The Spartans managed to find the back of the endzone on a 5-yard pass from Cameron Sapp to Xzavion Evans to put the score at 34-10 heading into the final 15 minutes.
The Bulldogs added ten more points to their tally to start the fourth quarter going up 44-10 over the Spartans. TJ Smith ran in for the one-yard touchdown with Zimmerman connecting on the PAT. Later in the quarter, Zimmerman added a 24-yard field goal kick as the final SCSU score. NSU made one more scoring push driving 63 yards down the field to score on a 19-yard run from Nolan James. With the PAT from Wilcox put the final score at 44-17 for the Bulldogs.
Corey Fields, Jr., threw for 115 yards and two touchdowns on 9-of-11 completions while also running three times for 24 total yards and a TD. Jordan Smith led the Bulldogs receiving corps with 57 yards on four catches and two touchdowns. Four running backs recorded one touchdown apiece led by TJ Smith ran 13 times for 86 total yards. The Bulldogs tallied 305 total rushing yards.
Norfolk’s Cameron Sapp threw for 174 yards going 9-of-17 on his pass attempts for one touchdown.
BOX SCORE | RECAP
N.C. Central 55, Delaware State 14
North Carolina Central closed out the season with a 55-14 victory at home over Delaware State. The Eagles recorded seven touchdowns in the game, five through the air and two rushing, en route to 669 total yards of offense for N.C. Central.
Delaware State scored the opening drive and the closing drive of the first half against North Carolina Central as the score sat at 38-14 with NCCU leading 38-14. Five of the seven N.C. Central touchdowns came in the first two quarters as well as a field goal from Adrian Olivo, who connected on all five point-after attempts.
The second half was all N.C. Central as the Eagles added an additional 17 points to their total off of two touchdowns and three field goals.
Davius Richard connected with Joaquin Davis six times in the contest, three of those were for touchdown plays. Davis totaled 128 receiving with the longest at 64 yards. Luke Bracy and J’Mari Taylor each caught one of the five throwing touchdown passes from Richard. Quarterback Richard threw for 386 yards completing an impressive 19-of-21 passes for a 90.5% completion percentage. Richard also rushed for 35 total yards and a touchdown. The other rushing touchdown came from Latrell Collier who had 12 rushing attempts for 82 total yards.
BOX SCORE | RECAP