Morgan State University’s football could not get it done in their final home game of the season as they were defeated 41-10 by the Bethune-Cookman University Wildcats.
Both the Bears and Wildcats entered the game with identical 2-5 records, but BCU proved to be the better team.
The Wildcats got off to a quick start with a 69-yard drive on the opening possession that was capped off by a 23-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Uriel Hernandez field.
Sophomore William King’s 49-yard kick return set up good field position for Morgan’s first possession but the Bears were unable to take advantage of the field positon as sophomore kicker Alexa Raya missed a field goal from 36 yards out.
Throughout the game, the Bears defense failed to get off the field on third downs and their penalties enabled Bethune to move the ball down the field. “We have to make good decisions,” said Bears’ head coach Fred Farrier. “We can’t have as many penalties as we did in critical situations.”
The Bears went into halftime trailing 20-3 but came out swinging in the third quarter when King returned a kick 88 yards to the Wildcats 11. “I knew I was going to bust one,” said King. “I told my teammates at halftime let’s go we need a spark”.
King’s return set up a 17-yard scamper to the end zone by graduate quarterback Chris Andrews. That would be the Bears first and last touchdown of the game.
King’s return lit a fire for the Bears, but that fire was soon blown out.
The next possession, the Bears went three-and-out and then saw BCU quickly go down the field and score. Freshman running back Tupac Isme ran the ball in from one yard out to expand the Wildcats lead 27-10.
Morgan’s offense could not get going during the game which caused coach Farrier to see what freshman quarterback DeAndre Harris had when he switched out Andrews mid third quarter. “We got to a point where we got stagnant and I wanted to try something new,” said Farrier.
Farrier let Harris throw the ball seven times for 12 yards until he saw enough and put Andrews back in the game.
The Bears (2-6, 2-4 MEAC) have dropped four consecutive games with the loss to BCU. Despite those losses coach Farrier begs students and fans to be patient about the future of Morgan State football.
“There is no quick fix and there’s no quick answer for success,” said Farrier. “We have a plan and we think we know how to work that plan and we’ll continue to push to get that plan executed to have some success as we move forward. I think there are big days ahead for Morgan State football”.
The next game for Morgan will be at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, FL.
