The Morgan State University Bears will end the season in 77th matchup against their beltway rival the Howard Bison on Saturday Nov. 23 at Earl C. Banks Field.
Saturday will be Morgan’s senior night where they will recognize their seniors as this will be their last time competing in a Morgan jersey.
“The journey that has happened at Morgan State is a blessing… not being in college is a thing that is common from where I am from, just being able to be in college all 4 years and playing the game I love, it’s a great feeling,” said senior cornerback Bryan Stukes.
Both Howard and Morgan are coming off of big losses, Morgan losing 54-7 to South Carolina State, and Howard losing 26-3 to North Carolina Central.
Morgan also has a chance to earn their first .500 record since 2009 and a win on Saturday would be the first time Morgan beat Howard in football since Sept 24. 2016.
“[The season] was definitely not a failure, it was a learning experience for sure… it was a lot of highs, but a lot of lows as well,” said senior running back Myles Miree.
Last Friday during the Howard and North Carolina Central game a brawl broke out between the two teams leaving a coach and 36 players suspended. This means 17 players from Howard will not play against Morgan this Saturday.
Head coach Damon Wilson said, “I just think about Morgan State and try to prepare for us. A long time ago I used to think about other teams, I stopped doing that because I can’t control it.”
Howard is coming into the matchup with a run-heavy offense led by graduate running back Jarett Hunter with 743 rushing yards and junior running back Eden James with 414 yards rushing.
The duo is also accompanied by their redshirt sophomore quarterback Ja’shawn Scroggins who has 477 rushing yards.
Their passing attack is led by the team’s leading receiver, fifth year wide receiver Kasey Hawthorne who has 37 catches for 414 yards and senior wide receiver Isiah Williams who has 35 catches for 401 yards.
The strength of the Bears offensive ability has been reliant on the run game which was limited last week as they were held to 78 yards rushing on 38 attempts.
Defensively, All-American and Aneas Williams award finalist graduate safety Kenny Gallop Jr leads the team in tackles with 77 and 3 sacks. Up front junior defensive lineman Noah Miles leads the team in sacks with 7 and 34 tackles, and one of their star corners, senior defensive back Robert Jones III leads the team in interceptions with 3.
Coach Wilson is in his 3rd season at Morgan State and a win on Saturday would not only be his first win over Howard since taking the Morgan job, but also closing his best season at the helm with a win.
“You want to see these guys with a .500 record, something they haven’t accomplished since being here at Morgan… We haven’t beaten Howard in some years, we are going to bounce back and go over the performance from last week,” said Wilson.
