Morgan State’s football team hopes to win first game of the season on homecoming day

The 0-6 Bears are still in search of their first win of the season as they face North Carolina Central on Saturday.

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Kelia Briscoe

The Morgan State Bears are set to face the North Carolina Central Eagles at 1 p.m. this Saturday in Hughes Stadium.

Tariq Turner, Sports Editor

Wins have been hard to come by for Morgan State’s football program over the past two seasons.

Dating back to the 2019-20 college football season, Morgan is 3-15.

Despite a drastically different roster this season than the one two seasons ago, the Bears have continued to struggle.

The team is currently 0-6 overall and 0-2 in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) play.

While the football program has struggled under head coach Tyrone Wheatley’s tenure, Wheatley is undefeated in homecoming games (1-0).

In Wheatley’s one and only homecoming game as Morgan’s head coach on Oct. 12, 2019, the team defeated Delaware State 34-3.

On Saturday, Wheatley will try to improve his record on homecoming games to 2-0 as his team faces the North Carolina Central Eagles (2-4) at 1 p.m. in Hughes Stadium.

Morgan lost their game last Saturday to South Carolina State 37-14.

Morgan quarterbacks Neil Boudreau and Duce Taylor combined for five interceptions thrown and two fumbles lost.

Boudreau believes it will take a total team effort to beat the Eagles on Saturday.

“Everyone is trying to kind of make up for what they feel like we’re missing on their own,” Boudreau said. “But ultimately we’ve got to come together as a team.”

North Carolina Central is coming off a bye week and is currently on a three-game losing streak.

They lost their last game to Tennessee Tech 27-16 on Oct. 9.

Saturday’s game against Morgan will be the Eagles’ first conference game of the season.

Although the Bears’ defense surrendered 37 points against South Carolina State, freshman safety Kaleb Coleman and junior linebacker Lawrence Richardson each had interceptions.

Coleman expects to see a large crowd on Saturday.

“I know the student population, faculty, alumni, and family are all going to come out to support,” Coleman said.

Richardson expects there to be tension in the crowd.

“I feel like it’s going to be the same as any other game but a little more tension from the fans because that’s our homecoming,” Richardson said. “We’ve got to win.”

Among those expected to be in the crowd are die-hard fan Craig Williams and Ron Bethea, a member of Morgan’s 1971 football team that won the first-ever MEAC championship.

Williams, who can be frequently seen at Morgan sporting events chanting phrases like “Let me at ‘em” and “I’ve got some guys with me”, thinks the Bears have a chance to defeat the Eagles.

“I think [Morgan] is going to win this game,” Williams said.

Bethea believes there may be some turmoil if Morgan fails to earn a win.

“Homecoming game is very, very important around here,” Bethea said. “Hopefully we can come out on the front end of this game because if we don’t, the rest of the season is going to be difficult around the campus here.”