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Alex Raya

After Morgan State kicker, Alex Raya, made his first career game-winner on September 22 against North Carolina A&T, his mom, who was watching back home in California, called him that same night.Wyman Jones and Terry Wright

“My mom was very excited,” said Raya, a senior.

“She was trying to stay calm; she was saying she’d almost had a heart attack.”

“We worked so hard that week and emphasized that we could win, and it just felt great to win that game,” said junior quarterback Deandre Harris.

Two weeks later, the Bears are fresh off a bye week and have another winnable game at home against the winless Bulldogs of South Carolina State, and senior linebacker Damare Whitaker believes the team’s confidence level is the highest it’s been this season.

“[That game] really showed us what we’re capable of,” Whitaker said. “Everyone’s believing in the process and in Coach [Ernest T.] Jones, and we’re just ready to get back at it.”

For other players, like Raya, the confidence level never wavered.

“We won, but we put that win behind us and practice the same way every week.”

“It’s not like we practice harder now because we beat a team,” he said. “We won, but we put that win behind us and practice the same way every week.”

“Our expectations are always high, and we expect a lot from each other,” said Harris. “We had the chance to beat the MEAC champions, and we have a chance to beat anyone on our schedule; we just have to go out and execute and play better than our last week.”

The Bears will attempt to even their record at 2-2, but Whitaker—a freshman when Morgan last captured a MEAC title in 2014—has higher aspirations for this squad, which he thinks could be even better than that 2014 team.

“That team in 2014 had a lot of great individual athletes; this team has talented athletes but it’s more of a brotherhood,” Whitaker said. “We fellowship more and hang out more. I feel like this is the best team we’ve had since I’ve been here.”