Morgan State University alumni, young and elderly, packed Hughes Stadium to see the Bears get their first win of the season as they defeated the Savannah State Tigers 48-28.
After losing three non-conference games and dropping two MEAC games, the Bears played effectively on both sides of the ball to pull out the homecoming victory.
“It feels good,” said Bears quarterback Elijah Staley. “We’ve been working hard and we knew things would start clicking.”
Savannah State would score first when running back Uriah Oliver took a screen pass 83 yards to the end zone on the Tigers first possession of the game.
On their second possession, Morgan responded when junior running back Eric Harrell came in from the one-yard line to tie the game up at seven.
The strength of the Bears team this year has been the defense. The Bears defense came up with a fumble recovery on the Tiger’s 26-yard line in the first quarter. The Bears offense would take advantage of the turnover when Staley tossed the ball to Amonta Poteat for a 21-yard touchdown giving Morgan a 14-7 lead in the first quarter.
For the first three weeks of the season, Morgan failed to reach the end zone but are now turning things around, finding the end zone more frequently. Morgan scored 21 unanswered points in the second quarter against the Tigers.
“We made less mistakes and we capitalized off of some of the opportunities and our guys just played better,” said head Coach Fred T. Farrier.
After the game coach Farrier walked his team to Morgan’s new Legends Plaza outside of the stadium where two statues of Morgan’s most famous coaches, Edward Hurt and Earl Banks were introduced during homecoming week.
“Every game for now on we’ll walk through and touch the statues,” said coach Farrier.
The Bears will travel to Washington, D.C. to take on Howard University for their homecoming Oct. 21. They return home Oct. 28 to play Florida A&M University.
Blair Young, Sports Editor, recapped the events from the homecoming game.
