One year ago, the Morgan State Bears defeated the North Carolina A&T Aggies and Saturday’s game was no different. With an overall score of 22-16, the Bears defeated their opponent at Morgan State’s Hughes Memorial Stadium.

“We knew they had a really good running back and a talented receiver in Zachary Leslie, so we had to put a lot of emphasis on stopping those guys,” said senior linebacker Ian McBorrough.

Senior quarterback DeAndre Harris scored two touchdowns, one through the air and one with his legs in an effort to help his team pull off the upset. He found success earlier in the game as he began to target Manasseh Bailey, his No. 1 receiver. 

Bailey caught deep passes in the secondary and as a result, set his team up to kick a tying field goal in the second quarter. 

“We came out and decided that we wanted to attack them before they attacked us,” Harris said.

As the half began to wind down, the teams began to trade touchdowns.

Senior linebacker Rico Kennedy picked off a pass from the Aggies and in return, he set up a two-yard touchdown run from senior running back Joshua Chase.

The Aggies answered with a 10-yard touchdown catch from wide receiver Zachary Leslie to tie the game.

With no intention of going into halftime with a tie, Harris connected with Bailey on a 27-yard touchdown pass with 44 seconds left on the clock.

“We’ve been practicing that look because when we motion, A&T doesn’t know what to do,” Bailey said. “It was an easy give and go ball.” 

Bailey finished the game with seven catches for 118-yards and a touchdown. After halftime, the Aggies could only muster a field goal in the third quarter and made the score 16-13, advantage Morgan.

Within the last five minutes of the game, Harris scored the go-ahead touchdown with a dive into the endzone and added eight points to the Bears’ score. 

Down two possessions, the Aggies needed two quick scores to win the game. They scored on a 46-yard field goal and inched closer with a score of 22-16.

Any hopes of a comeback were soon crushed after a sack by Kennedy, which resulted in a turnover on downs. He finished the game with five tackles and a sack.  

The Bears entered the game with the No. 3 ranked pass defense, holding opposing offenses to just 196-yards per game. They held the Aggies to just 154, who entered the contest with an average of 209. 

“If this team plays to their talent and not their opponent, we’ll be a very tough team to beat,” said head coach Tyrone Wheatley.

With two games left in the regular season, Morgan (2-8) will host the Virginia University of Lynchburg Dragons (0-8) on Nov. 16 at 1 p.m on Morgan’s home turf.