Sunday, September 10, 2000
North Carolina A&T claims Riverfront Classic
Turnovers fail to stop Aggies
By Pete Holtermann
Enquirer contributor
North Carolina A&T didn't do a good job hanging onto the football Saturday, but the Aggies kept control long enough to beat Tennessee State in the second annual Riverfront Classic.
The Aggies used a 14-play, 69-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter to beat Tennessee State 16-14 in front of 30,300 at Cinergy Field.
Five turnovers held the Aggies to just 93 yards of offense in the first half. But on that fourth-quarter drive, A&T's offense rolled down the field, helped by four Tennessee State penalties for 30 yards.
“We just didn't find a way to stop them,” TSU coach James Reese said. “Our defense played well, but we kept them out on the field too long.”
Once the Aggies got inside the 10 on that final drive, however, the Tennessee State defense tightened up.
On three straight plays from the 1, A&T quarterback Jason Battle was stopped on dive attempts. On fourth-and-1, after an Aggies timeout, Battle handed off to Marsay Winder, who plunged over the right side for the decisive score with 3:35 left.
“It wasn't any magic, we just punched it in there,” A&T coach Bill Hayes said. “That wasn't a strategy timeout. I just appealed to their pride.”
Tennessee State scored on its first possession of the game after recovering an Aggies fumble on the 8-yard line. Amariah Robb ran around the right side and into the end zone to give the Tigers a 7-0 advantage five minutes into the game.
An interception by Chane Price set up State's next scoring drive early in the second quarter. Kenton Evans hit Julius Hull in the back of the end zone from 33 yards out to give Tennessee State a touchdown lead with just more than 14 minutes left in the first half.
The Tigers would get only those two scores off the five Aggies turnovers.
“We missed a lot of opportunities early and let them say around,” Reese said.
North Carolina A&T dominated the time of possession by nearly 10 minutes, but the Tigers outgained the Aggies 280 yards to 206.
“I told Coach (Reese) out on the field that his football team outplayed ours today,” Hayes said.
He said he thought his team was lucky to win considering the Aggies' rough start.
“That was the worst half of football I've seen in a long time,” Reese said. “We self-destructed and did everything we could to give it away.
“Really, I call this win a gift.”
Tennessee State ....... 7 7 0 0—14
North Carolina A&T ....... 7 0 0 9—16
First quarter
T-Robb 13 run (Goodwens kick)
N-Williams 10 from Battle (Dawkins kick)
Second quarter
T-Hull 33 from Evans (Goodwens kick)
Fourth quarter
N-Dawkins 30 FG
N-Winder 1 run (kick failed)
First Downs: TSU 13; NCAT 15.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: TSU—Robb 13-78, Key 6-65; NCAT—Parks 21-51, Winder 5-21.
PASSING: TSU—Evans 9-25-128-0, Smith 2-10-30-1, Matkins 6-8-60-0.
RECEIVING: TSU—Hull 6-87-1, Jenkins 2-44-0; NCAT—Caldwell 3-30-0, Williams 2-30-1.
Records: Tennessee State 1-1, North Carolina A&T 2-0
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