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Stingy defense helps N.C. A&T hold off WSSU
Late goal-line stand preserves 14-8 victory for Aggies in Rams' season opener
Journal Photo by Lauren Carroll
N.C. A&T's Michael Ferguson gets past Marvin Bohannon for a touchdown.
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Published: September 7, 2008
GREENSBORO
Nobody's laughing at the N.C. A&T Aggies anymore.
The Aggies, who went winless the past two seasons, are now 2-0 after beating rival Winston-Salem State 14-8 last night at jam-packed Aggie Stadium. With 21,500 on hand, the Aggies showed balance on offense, and a tough defense that looked an awful lot like the old "Blue Death" defenses of the Bill Hayes era.
"You can write that down, we are back," said offensive lineman Enoch Cohen of the Aggies.
Cohen, a former star at North Forsyth, has had to endue a lot of grief from friends the past two seasons because the Rams had the Aggies' number. But Cohen said he can't wait to brag a little bit.
"It feels great to be able to go back home during the holidays or on weekends and just brag about this," Cohen said. "I won my city back and it feels great. I can't describe the feeling."
The Rams were breaking in a new quarterback in redshirt freshman Tienne Jefferson, and while he showed flashes of good play, consistency wasn't there. Even when Jefferson was replaced in the second half by junior Jarrett Dunston, the Rams failed to deliver when they had chances.
With the Aggies clinging to a 14-6 lead, the Rams put together a long drive and got down to the Aggies' 4-yard line. But on four straight plays the Aggies came through, including a fourth-down sack of Dunston by Micah Stanfield with 1:13 to go.
Coach Kermit Blount of the Rams said that while Jefferson did OK (12 of 18 passing for 152 yards but getting sacked twice), the offense never got it going.
"We never seemed to get into a good rhythm," Blount said. "We made a big play here and there, but the one thing about offensive football you have to establish a rhythm and we just didn't get into that good rhythm tonight."
Jefferson had 129 of his yards in the first half and he also rushed for a 2-yard touchdown in the second quarter to make the score 7-6. But the point-after attempt was blocked by Tyre Glasper of the Aggies. The point-after attempt by kicker Adnan Kijajic was low. Kijajic is a junior-college transfer who was signed late this summer.
The Aggies led 7-6 at halftime and extended their lead to 14-6 early in the fourth quarter. Running back Michael Ferguson, the eighth-leading rusher in school history with more nearly 2,100 yards, scored on a powerful 12-yard run. At the 5-yard line he bowled over safety David Irizarry to get to the end zone. The point after made the score 14-6.
One of the bright spots for the Rams was the play of the defensive line, in particular Stephen Young, a freshman who had two sacks and spent a lot of time in the Aggies' backfield.
Young said he was impressed by the atmosphere surrounding the game. "This was a big rivalry game and probably the most intense game that I've ever played in," he said.
When Dunston led the Rams down to the Aggies' 4, it appeared that the Rams would be able to punch it in. Three straight running plays by Brandon McRae went nowhere, thanks to Glasper and the rest of the defensive line. On fourth down Dunston tried to roll out, but Stanfield rolled with him and got the sack.
Coach Lee Fobbs of the Aggies, whose team snapped a 27-game losing streak August 30 against Johnson C. Smith, said that the defensive stand late in the fourth quarter was a product of hard work.
"It looked like they were going to stick it in there with that running back who had a pretty good game, but they responded," he said.
The Aggies took over deep in their own territory and instead of running a play, quarterback Herb Miller knelt down three times and then, on fourth down, ran out of the end zone for a safety with 20 seconds to go.
Blount said he wanted to change the momentum in the fourth quarter when Dunston replaced Jefferson. Dunston was 5 for 8 with 39 yards and was sacked twice, but did move the Rams down to the Aggies' 4.
"We were just trying to flip the momentum with the offense," Blount said of changing quarterbacks. "I thought Tienne did an excellent job for the most part and as a young quarterback goes he's going to make some mistakes. There were probably some reads that he missed early on in the game but at the same time we expect that from our young guys and they are going to get better as this season goes along."
Jefferson spoke barely above a whisper afterward, and was clearly disappointed.
"The offense didn't play as well as we wanted to," Jefferson said. "The speed of the game didn't bother me. I played the game 30 times over in my head and it was what I expected."
As the clock was winding down and the Aggies' side of the field started celebrating one fan proclaimed: "We are 2-0, can you believe that?"
Despite going winless in his first two seasons, Fobbs said that it's been hard work that's turned things around.
"It was continuous hard work and believing in what we are doing," Fobbs said. "No matter what anybody says, no matter what the critics said, just believe in what you are doing and stay on the right path. And I just had a plan."
Meanwhile, Blount and the Rams will have to regroup by Saturday when they play their home opener against Savannah State.
"We're going to go back and be ready to work on Monday," Blount said. "One thing about the game of football we can't worry about what happened, it's over. The only thing we can do is work on getting better and this is a football team that's going to work tremendously hard.
"If they go out and play as hard as they can like they did tonight then I'm going to be a happy football coach."
■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com.
Winston-Salem State 0 6 0 2 -- 8
N.C. A&T 7 0 0 7 -- 14
First Quarter
NCAT--Miller 2 run (Houston kick), 4:59.
Second Quarter
WSSU--Jefferson 3 run (kick blocked), 13:55.
Fourth Quarter
NCAT--Ferguson 12 run (Houston kick), 13:57.
WSSU--Safety, :20.
A--21,500.
TEAM STATISTICS
WSSU NCAT
First downs 16 14
Rushes-yards 38-80 43-101
Passing 191 124
Comp-Att-Int 17-26-0 12-21-0
Return Yards 15 20
Punts-Avg. 8-30.8 8-39.1
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 2-0
Penalties-Yards 3-22 7-56
Time of Possession 28:37 31:23
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--WSSU, Fluellen 15-71, McRae 8-7, Kljajic 1-6, Jefferson 8-5, Cooper 1-1, W.Wilson 2-(minus 3), Dunston 3-(minus 7). A&T, Ferguson 20-86, Dawson 1-13, Parnell 4-6, Miles 1-4, Cosby 2-3, Miller 11-1, Fears 1-(minus 2), Team 3-(minus 10).
PASSING--WSSU Jefferson 12-18-0-152, Dunston 5-8-0-39. A&T, Miller 11-20-0-83, Lowrance 1-1-0-41.
RECEIVING--WSSU, Bayne 7-47, B.Thomas 3-73, Sherrod 3-19, Fluellen 2-26, Kizzie 1-20, McRae 1-6. A&T,Ferguson 4-34, Dawson 3-53, Miles 3-29, Cosby 1-4, Sunderland 1-4.
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